


Tell me a story

by Baneismydragon



Series: Tumblr drabbles and oneshots [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Multi, Some angst, collection, drabble prompts, lots of fluff, much romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2018-12-23 09:37:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 28,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11987124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baneismydragon/pseuds/Baneismydragon
Summary: A collection of short stories and drabbles based on 4 word prompts from tumblrEach chapter is its own unique story- check chapter titles for pairings and prompts.Reposted from tumblr





	1. Chapter 1- Ladrien: Please Talk to me

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is just a reposting of my series "4 word prompt drabbles" from tumblr. drabble being used loosely as some of these stories are over 4k words >_> Anyways each chapter is its own story. I hope you enjoy! I promise I will be updating several of my fics soon I just am cleaning house with my files and I wanted to get these safely onto AO3   
> On to the story!

Ladybug cradled her arm to her chest and bit back a sob of pain. 

It had been a mistake. 

She should have been smart, she should have waited for Chat to arrive. He was the melee fighter, not her. As much as it killed her sometimes to watch him dive in head first, there was no denying that there was a logic to their partnership. He was designed to take the brunt of the damage while she was supposed to be the attacker. They were designed to be a team. 

She had never put a lot of thought into how much protection the suit could give her. She had never needed to before. She heard the hurried sound of footsteps darting into the alley behind her, but didn’t know if she had it in her to run away. 

“Ladybug!” 

She would know that voice anywhere. He was, after all, part of the reason she was cowering here in the first place. 

“Ladybug are you ok?” Adrien said, his breath coming hard and fast from his sprint to chase after her. 

She didn’t say anything, tears trailing down her cheeks as she continued to clutch at her injured arm. 

She was a failure. 

The footsteps stopped and she could feel him drop to the ground beside her. 

“Ladybug?” Adrien said again, placing his hand hesitantly on her shoulder. 

A choked sob of pain, exhaustion, and shame forced its way out of her throat. She huddled down further. He shouldn’t see her like this. No one should ever see her like this. She was supposed to be a hero- not a sad, broken girl who literally almost let her infatuation get her killed. 

She felt Adrien pull his hand back as if it had been burned, and then heard him shift around so that he was kneeling in front of her. 

“Hey, it’s ok,” he said tenderly, “it’s going to be ok.” He reached up and gently brushed her bangs away from her face and she couldn’t resist the pull of his gaze. His smile was kind and calm, but his eyes shone with worry. “Please,” he begged softly, “talk to me.” 

“Adrien,” she sobbed, sagging forward into his arms. 

“It’s alright, I’ve got you,” he soothed, holding her loosely so as not to jostle her injury. “How badly are you hurt, do you need to go to a hospital?” 

She shook her head, seeking comfort in his embrace. “No, I can’t. The Akuma-” 

“Can wait,” he interrupted. “What matters right now is are you ok?” He pulled away from her slightly, his hands coming to cradle her face. 

“I’m... I’m ok, but I think my arm is broken.” 

He nodded, pulling off his overshirt and wrapping it around her to make a makeshift sling. 

“Don’t drop your transformation, it will be worse for you if you do. Luckily it will all be good as new once you use your powers. It shouldn’t be too hard to get the akuma back to you.” 

“I need to call Chat,” she said, fumbling for her yo-yo, but Adrien grabbed her hand and held her still. 

“He already knows, just relax. We need to get you somewhere safer than this.”

A fresh round of tears burned down her cheeks. 

“I am sorry, I am so sorry,” she cried, burying her face into his tee-shirt.  

“What are you talking about? You have nothing to be sorry for.” 

“I do, I failed!” 

“What are you talking about?” Adrien asked, looking at her in shock, “You are a hero, you saved me.” 

“And I was so caught up in trying to impress you that I almost got myself killed! Or worse! I could have lost my miraculous! And now I don’t even know if I can fight. I’m letting down everyone! You, Chat-” 

“Hey,” he interrupted, “you haven’t let down anyone. Least of all me.” 

She let out a small gasp as he wiped the tears away from her eyes. She felt herself flush under the weight of his smile, his thumbs reverently tracing against her cheeks. 

“You… you were trying to impress me?” he asked breathlessly. 

“I… well I…” the words died in her throat as he leaned closer, his eyes boring into hers, “yes,” she whispered. 

“Why would you do that?” he murmured, his lips pausing just a hair’s breadth away from her own. 

“Because.. Because I-” she leaned in the rest of the way. Everything faded except for the glorious sensation of his mouth moving against hers, his hands still cupping her face, holding her as if terrified that she would disappear. He tasted like chocolate and mint and cream, like a rich drink that you just want to savor as it warms you. He nibbled hesitantly on her lower lip and she deepened the kiss, losing herself in the feel of him. He pressed forward, one arm wrapping around her back and she broke away with a cry of pain, her arm trapped between them. 

“Sorry! I’m sorry,” he stammered, awkwardly petting her upper arm. “This probably isn’t the right time for… well…” he coughed, his face going scarlet. 

He stood and helped her to her feet as well. “We should get you someplace safe and then deal with that akuma.” 

He began leading her out of the alley and back towards the main street to a familiar cafe. He put an arm around her shoulder and she couldn’t resist leaning her head against him as he guided her into the small shop.

It wasn’t until he was settling her down into a chair by the shops fire, the various staff and patrons whispering excitedly at her presence, that his words finally registered. 

“Wait, I thought you said Chat was already dealing with the akuma?” she asked, confused. 

“He’s been a little preoccupied,” Adrien laughed nervously, “but I think it’s time he got to work on fetching a butterfly for you, don’t you think so, My Lady?” 

“Adrien?” she gasped, eyes going wide as she stared up him. 

He smiled- wide, and happy, and just a little sheepish. He brought her fingertips to his lips and gave them a delicate kiss. 

“We’ll talk when I get back,” he said with a wink, then turned and hurried out of the cafe. 


	2. DJ Wifi- *Alright* I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning- this chapter contains some spoilers

“Nino,” she whined, “please you HAVE to do this for me!”

“Oh, so now I have to,” he replied with an infuriating little smirk. “Seeing as how I never approved of your akuma chasing in the first place, I don’t think I have to do anything.”

“Come on, I need to be able to report on what happens!” 

“Which I don’t see you having a big problem with, seeing as how you will be there, miss ‘I suddenly have super powers’.” 

“It’s not the same and you know it! I need actual footage. People are going to get suspicious if I just suddenly stop posting shots of the battles on my blog! I have already had complaints from some of my most dedicated viewers!” Alya groaned.  
Nino simply shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “So tell them you finally developed some common sense and decided that almost getting killed on a weekly basis was a terrible plan. You can say your boyfriend talked you into it.”  
Alya glowered at him.“Ha ha very funny. Do you really think anyone will buy that? Do you think Marinette is going to believe that I just suddenly stopped caring about the Ladyblog? It will be the end of my secret identity!”   
“You could always just tell her. I mean you told me.”  
“I also sleep with you, you bozo.”   
“Bozo? Really?” he asked with an amused smile.   
Alya bit back a scream of frustration. She really didn’t have time to be arguing this right now. She should already be transforming and heading out to meet her partners. Perhaps she needed to try a different tactic.   
She lowered her chin and twisted her mouth into a pitiful pout. “Come on, I need you to do this for me,” she said in the same voice that usually got him to rub her back or get up to fetch snacks in the middle of the movie. “Think how disappointed Adrien will be if there isn’t any new footage on the Ladyblog tomorrow. Could you really live with yourself, knowing that you let down the two most important people in your life?”   
Nino simply raised an eyebrow, clearly not impressed with her argument. They stared each other down for a few seconds before a devious gleam entered his eyes. “What do I get out of this arrangement?” he asked with a knowing smile.   
“No,” Alya protested, already guessing where this conversation was heading.   
“Come on, if you expect me to run into the middle of a battle with a camera, I want to hear you say it.”   
“Absolutely not, you know what happens.”   
“I have no clue what you could possibly mean,” he said with false innocence.   
“Nino,” she whined, tapping her foot anxiously. She really didn’t have time for this.   
“Give me one good reason why I should do this for you.”   
“Because you want to have sex again ever?”   
“Nope, try again.”   
“Come on, please???”   
“You know my price.”   
“Ugh. Alright, I love you.” As soon as she said the words, she let out a loud involuntary scream. She clasped her hand over her mouth, her face flushing with mortification. There were definitely drawbacks to acquiring magical fox powers.   
Nino gave her a triumphant smile, his lips pursed together in amusement as he vainly attempted to stifle his laughter. He stood up and walked over, plucking the cell phone out of her pocket and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.   
“I love you too, babe. See you at the fight.” And with that he hurried out the door to make his way to the most recent attack.   
“You know, I really like him,” Trixx said, popping up from Alya’s pocket and giving her a sly smile.   
“Oh don’t you start.”


	3. Marichat- "I really need you"

It had been a stupid decision really. An impulse. A chance to get back at Chloe while standing up for her partner. 

At the time, it had been incredibly satisfying- walking into the classroom dressed head to toe in what might as well have been a billboard for Chat Noir merchandise. Chloe had of course glowered, preparing to cut in with some sort of scathing retort until she had been cut off by Adrien’s absolutely delight at seeing Marinette’s thematic ensemble. Unwilling to risk upsetting her precious ‘Adrikins’, Chloe had been forced to settle for glaring at her for the remainder of the day while both Adrien and Nino had fawned over her, asking her for her thoughts and opinions on all things Chat Noir. 

It had been a lovely day. Worth the 6 hours of sewing and altering she had spent the night before. She had even  _ officially _ gotten Adrien’s phone number for her trouble. 

What she had not expected was for Chat Noir to somehow get the memo. 

She blamed Nino’s Instagram. 

That very night, her oversized kitten had shown up at her window looking for attention from his “biggest fan.” 

Apparently he hadn’t forgotten her manufactured fawning from their minimal encounters together. 

Figuring he would be satisfied with a little ego stroking, she had once again fallen into the role of starstruck fangirl- swooning at his flirtations and posing for selfies. To be fair, it had been nice to get some photos with her partner that she could actually display in her room. So she had smiled, and cooed, and figured that was the end of it. 

But then he kept coming back…

It was now more than two months since her fight with Chloe, and the attention seeking stray was making constant visits to her home. 

At the end of the first week, she had started making a point of being busy when he arrived, hoping the lack of fussing and petting would break him of his newfound routine. However, he had simply settled himself on her chaise, with one of her novels- engaging in light conversation when she was sewing or offering hints if she was working on homework, perfectly content to just enjoy the company.

By the end of the second week, she tried a new tactic- dropping the fangirl act and instead pushing back against his flirtations, playing keep away with the treats he had been devouring, and poking fun at antics she had previously praised. He had simply laughed delightedly at the change, engaged in her teasing banter, and gotten more adept at nabbing up sweets when her back was turned. His visits also increased from every few days to almost nightly. 

By the end of the third week she had gotten desperate, using every trick she could think of to make him flee in terror. She insisted on watching girly romance movies. That had been a mistake, he just showed up the next night with popcorn and a request list. She made him indulge her in a “spa day”- he ended up spending 2 hours walking her through the finer points of proper eyeliner application. She caved and filled Alya in on the whole situation- figuring that finding the blogger lying in wait would make an impact. Her traitorous friends had done a 30 minute interview for the ladyblog and then called Nino over to join them both in a high stakes game of truth or dare. She tried spending an evening gushing about her crush, figuring that no boy wanted to listen to  _ that _ for hours at a time, but no. Not her Chat. He had wanted to know every single detail. In a last desperate move, she arranged for her parents to walk in on one of Chats visits. After an hour and a half of her father exchanging increasingly cringeworthy puns with their intruder, her mother had invited him to come back tomorrow for dinner.

After that she had been forced to accept that she seemed to have acquired a mischievous, teenaged house pet.  

The worst part, was that his endless enthusiasm was starting to take a toll on her emotions.

On the rare nights he didn’t come by now, she would be listless and moody. She had caught herself on a few occasions fixing her hair and makeup in the evenings before his arrival. And when she would talk to him about her crush on Adrien- a subject that he never seemed to tire of for some reason- she often found her mind flashing to a different pair of green eyes, and a wider, more carefree grin. 

Today was proving particularly troubling. Apparently he had found a website of the world’s stupidest pick up lines, and wanted to test if any of them worked. Unfortunately, she was learning the hard way that it didn’t matter how stupid the line was if it was being whispered in your ear by a bedroom voiced, blonde adonis. It was a miracle she hadn’t combusted. Instead, she had put as much effort as possible into keeping her voice steady, occasionally glancing up at her Adrien posters in a vain hope that it would give her the strength NOT to fall victim to her indiscriminate hormones. 

“What did you think of that one?” Chat asked, nuzzling her cheek with his nose flirtatiously after spouting yet another terrible line. 

“Wow, I really need you,” she replied flatly, refusing to look away from her current sketch. 

“Ok crossing that one off the list,” he laughed, drawing another heavy slash through the notebook he had brought over for the occasion. 

God how many more of these did she have to endure? Perhaps she should feign sleep and send him on his way so that she could just admit defeat and treat herself to another evening of shameless self-indulgence. She tried a manufactured yawn. 

Chat snapped his notebook shut and tossed it carelessly onto the chaise. He spun her chair around and dropped down to his knees in front of her so that they were roughly the same height, his eyes level to her nose. 

“OK princess, last one,” he said, tucking his fingers under her chin.

“Lay it on me,” she replied with far more confidence than she felt. 

His teasing grin dropped away as his eyes drilled into hers with a dizzying intensity. 

“I think you are the most incredible woman I have ever met. From the very first day I met you, I have found myself falling more and more in love with you. You are everything I ever dreamed you could be, and if you don’t mind,” his thumb came up and traced lightly at the corner of her lip, “I would very much like to kiss you My Lady.” 

Marinette’s eyes went wide. 

Well… damn… 


	4. Nathalie and Chat Noir "Are you always this quiet?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is not a romantic pairing... so don't get concerned

He stalked back and forth across the foyer, his heavy boots echoing against the marble flooring. His baton was clenched between his fingers, obviously ready to be on the defensive. 

“As I have said before, this really is unnecessary.” 

The hero glared at her, then resumed his agitated pacing. 

Nathalie pursed her lips in a small display of irritation. She really did have more important things to be doing than cowering like some damsel in her employer’s front hallway. This was hardly the first time she had earned the wrath of a disgruntled Gabriel employee- or in this case potential employee. She certainly saw no need to stress over the situation simply because this one had been granted temporary super powers. 

“What happened?” Chat Noir ask, his eye still dutifully scanning between the various points of entry.

“Pardon?”

“The akuma. Why is it targeting you?” 

Nathalie blinked. “I can only assume due to a lacked sense of personal responsibility.” 

“What?” the hero finally looked at her with a puzzled frown. 

“I denied him a job,” Nathalie stated bluntly.

The boy’s brow furrowed, his lips curling in a thoughtful pout. “Was he qualified?”

Nathalie smirked. “I doubt anyone who has an emotional meltdown from a single failed job interview is qualified to work directly under Gabriel Agreste.” 

“You may have a point,” he muttered. He flipped open a com screen on his weapon,  pressed a few buttons and frowned before returning back to his vigilant guard duty. 

Nathalie studied the hero. She had nothing better to do, given that her tablet was in her office and the boy had made it exceedingly clear that she was not to leave his line of sight. Given how she had seen footage of the teen heroes literally toppling national monuments, she didn’t feel it was worth arguing over it. 

He was younger than she would have thought, and was surprised that she had never picked up on that from the footage. Maybe 16 at most? He carried himself with authority, seemingly relatively nonplussed by his current surroundings, meaning he probably came from money himself. Of course that may just come from the security of having superpowers. 

He was more sullen than she would have imagined too. In the last 3 months since Ladybug and Chat Noir had arrived on the scene in Paris, she had watched more than her fair share of news reports on the power couple. Both Gabriel and Adrien seemed to follow their exploits religiously, a strange, nerdy hobby they could possibly bond over if they ever communicated for more than 5 minutes a day. 

Chat Noir had always seemed to be the more outgoing of the two. All smiles and jokes and self-assurance. Perhaps it was a show for the cameras. 

“Are you always this quiet?” she asked. 

“What?” he whirled around, eyes wide with the same expression of teen aged guilt that Adrien used to have when she would catch him trying to climb out the window. 

She didn’t repeat the question. He had obviously heard her. Instead she just raised one eyebrow slightly and waited. 

He turned away, hopping nervously from foot to foot. “Just focused on the job, Miss,” he said, his voice dropping about a half octave in pitch. 

Odd. Nathalie figured she might as well try to take advantage of this unexpected sign of weakness. 

“While I appreciate your help, I really don’t see what the harm is in my returning to my office.” 

“No!” he said, his voice returning to it’s usual timbre as he tensed in irritation. “You are going to stay here where I can protect you. That office is a bottleneck, it’s too risky.” 

Nathalie gave him her most intimidating stare. “Listen, young man, I can assure you that-” 

“I am not losing anyone else!” he yelled, whirling on her again, his brilliant green eyes blazing with a defiant expression that she knew almost as well as her own name. One that she normally associated with a matching pair of several, more familiar, sets of eyes in a slightly different shade of green. 

Her expression didn’t change as she mentally catalogued all the facts at her disposal. 

It made sense, in a horribly tragic sort of way. 

She knew that she would need to process this more fully later, probably with a bottle of wine, but right now she needed to make a decision. One that she wouldn’t be able to take back if she chose wrong. 

She adjusted her glasses, forcing herself to give him the tight smile that she normally reserved for particularly irritating clients who it was simply easier to humor. It was a look he would know well. 

“Whatever you think is best, Mr. Noir,” she said flatly, holding his gaze with practiced indifference. 

He visibly relaxed, turning back to the door to wait for the coming enemy. When a few moments had passed and he hadn’t tried to steal so much as a glance behind her, she finally allowed her expression to drop, her mind racing with a million questions. 

What on earth was she supposed to do now?


	5. Liladrienette "Will you help me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING- this one is a little more mature: bordering on the M side but nothing overly graphic. (Not enough to warrant a story rating change but I wanted to warn just in case.

“Will you help me?” Marinette called to her boyfriend, looking over her shoulder and glancing at the zipper of her dress. 

“Of course,” he looked up from the book he was reading with a smile. “So, I assume you want me to help you get that dress onto the floor right?” 

“Ha, ha,” she replied dryly, holding up her hair to keep it from catching on the zipper as Adrien came to stand behind her. 

He snaked an arm around her waist, nuzzling against her shoulder as he pulled it closed with agonizing slowness. 

“Someone is an affectionate kitty,” she laughed a little breathlessly. 

“I’ve been gone for two weeks,” he whined, “alone, in the cold.”

“It’s the middle of summer, and you were the one who agreed to tag along on Nino’s crazy scheme.” 

“I didn’t think it would take so long!” 

“Poor baby, the life of the idle rich is so difficult for you,” Marinette kissed the tip of his nose, then turned her attention back to the full length mirror. “I don’t know, is my hair ok like this?” 

“You look stunning,” Adrien whispered, sliding his hands along her hips and placing a featherlight kiss against her bare shoulder.

“Oh, Mari darling, what are you doing with your hair?” Lila cried from the doorway, hurrying into the room and shoving Adrien out of the way. “You can’t wear it down with this dress! You need it up. Here let me, you have always been terrible with hair.” 

“Thank you,” Marinette said pointedly, shooting Adrien a playful glare. “I am glad I can have one opinion in this house I can trust on these things.” 

“I am sorry that I always think my girls look flawless,” he said, grabbing the pair of them up into a bear hug.

“No!” Lila laughed, shoving him off, “we are going to be late if you keep stalling, now shoo!” 

Marinette watched with a smile as Lila shoved Adrien back. He topped back against the bed laughing, making a very attractive picture with his undone tie giving a relaxed feel to his  perfectly tailored suit. 

Lila grabbed a few pins from the dresser and quickly twisted Marinette’s hair into an elegant french twist. 

“See, much better,” Lila smirked, twirling Marinette around. “Besides,” she purred trailing her lips along the length of her girlfriend’s neck and eliciting a soft moan, “you get much better access this way.” 

“I see. I bow before you superior knowledge,” Adrien said, hopping up from the bed and leaning in to give Lila a quick teasing kiss. “So, better access you say?” he said mischievously.

“Oh, definitely,” she smiled, “you should see for yourself.”

“Guys…” Marinette groaned and each of them began nibbling and licking one side of her neck, “we are supposed to be going to the… thing…” 

“Do you want us to stop?” Lila asked as her fingers began tracing teasingly close to the underside of her bust line. 

Marinette let out a wordless moan as Adrien’s teeth nipped lightly against her collar, his hand cupping her derriere and pulling her in closer with a growl. 

“Hey,” Marinette complained, though she made no move to escape her captors, “this gala could be very important to my career.” 

Lila sighed, giving her one last kiss against her pulse point before coming around to wrap her arms around Adrien. “She’s right you know, carino,” she said, pressing her cheek against his back.  

“But… two weeks,” he whimpered, clinging to both of them. “Do you have any idea how hard it’s been being away from you two for that long? We’ve barely settled into our beautiful new apartment…” 

“And I promise when we get home you will get as much love and attention as you could possible want,” Marinette interrupted. “Is a few hours of socializing really going to be that bad?” 

“Hmmm,” he muttered dryly, “what would I rather do, go to one of my father’s parties or simply stay home and ravish my beautiful ladies? Decisions, decisions.” 

Lila laughed delightedly. “Careful Mari love, he’s making a pretty strong counterargument.” 

“Oh don’t you dare take his side, I’m not the one who ran off for two weeks, he brought this on himself.” 

“True, but I’ve also seen you naked and moaning in the past 24 hours, where as he is comparatively shiny and new,” Lila said. 

“Yes! Two against one!” Adrien cheered. 

“Traitors,” Marinette, grumbled, “stop messing around or I swear I will sleep on the couch tonight,” she threatened, twisting out of Adrien’s grasp. 

They both looked at her amused. 

“Which I realize in hindsight is pretty much just punishing myself,” she sighed. “How about this,” Marinette said, “IF you come with me to this party for at least 2 hours, I will call in sick to work tomorrow, that way I can spend the whole day hanging out with you spoiled layabouts and your lack of 9-5 jobs.” 

Marinette watched as Lila bit her lip in amusement while Adrien’s eyes lit up in delight.  

“I’ll go get the car,” Adrien said, giving them both a kiss on the cheek before hurrying off. 

“You know,” Lila said, “I could swear you mentioned to me this morning that you had arranged to take tomorrow off when we found out Adrien was coming home.” 

“Maybe, but he doesn’t need to know that.” 

“That’s my girl.” 


	6. Chloenette- "You're such a bitch"

“Chloe, what are you doing?” Marinette asked as she stared at girl who was currently lounging in Alya’s seat. 

“I’m sitting next to my best friend of course!” She smiled, patting the desk beside her, “Cesaire can sit over there. Isn’t that right Sabrina?” she called to her usual partner in crime. 

“Of course! Whatever you think is best Chloe. I’m so excited we are getting new friends!” Sabrina grinned manically, giving Marinette an energetic wave. 

Marinette slid into her seat. “What did you tell her?” she hissed, “I thought we were clear yesterday that a secret identity needs to be kept a secret!” 

Of all the people to possibly find out about her alter ego, it had to be Chloe. 

“Of course I didn’t tell her about… you know… I just told her that you and I ran into each other at a cafe and hashed out our differences,” Chloe whispered back. “So I was thinking we should go shopping together after class.” 

“Why would you tell Sabrina that?” Marinette asked, praying that she could get this whole mess sorted out before Alya and Nino showed up. If she was lucky, maybe today they would have one of their morning make out sessions and come racing in seconds before the bell. 

“Well I am Sabrina’s best friend, I had to tell her something! Especially since we are going to be spending so much time together now. I didn’t want her freaking out and going all… invisible again.” 

“What… time togeth… what are you talking about?” 

Chloe gave her a pitying smile, “Oh silly, you don’t have to pretend anymore. I know you have to keep up the whole lame, clumsy persona so that people don’t figure out your secret, but you don’t have to hide from me! I’m your best friend!” 

“No, you’re really not.” 

“And I know you better than anyone.” 

“I seriously doubt that.” 

“And just think, now you can be yourself around someone! Because we are truly together now. It’s like destiny. Me and Ladybug, just like it was always meant to be. And you know you can even act like less of a spaz and everyone will just assume that it’s because our friendship has made you that much cooler. No one will suspect that it’s just your true self shining through.” 

“Could this get any worse?” 

“Chloe?” a new voice interrupted. “What are you doing in Alya’s seat?” 

Apparently it could get worse, because Marinette looked up to see Adrien, looking confused, standing next to his own place in front of her. Great. 

“Oh Adrikins! Marinette and I have decided to become best friends. It’s alright if I bring her with me for our monthly movie night on Thursday right?”

“Sure, I guess…” Adrien said, still looking like he was expecting to wake up any second to find the whole conversation was a dream. Or maybe Marinette was projecting.

“I was thinking we could all go shopping first,” Chloe continued obliviously, “or maybe manicures because really Marinette we should do something about your poor nails. Oh! Before I forget- selfie!” She pulled out her phone, slinging an arm around Marinette shoulder and giving the camera a brilliant grin. Marinette scowled, then flushed self consciously when she noticed Adrien staring at them both with a strange, searching expression. 

“Sorry!” Adrien said, shaking his head when he realized he had been caught staring, “deja vu… anyways I am glad you two are getting along now, it will be fun to all hang out together.” He gave them both an encouraging smile and slipped into his own seat, pulling out his phone. 

Marinette sighed, slumping down in her chair. At least something good might come out of this. It seemed that Chloe was finally going to stop trying to ruin her already disastrous attempts to spend time with Adrien.

“So where should be go for lunch?” Chloe asked. 

“Chloe, we are not going to lunch together,” Marinette said, trying to channel her mother’s firm but quiet tone. “We are not best friends, and you need to go back to your seat, preferably before Alya gets here.” 

“But you’re Ladybug.” 

“Yes, but I am also Marinette. You know, the girl you picked on mercilessly for the last 5 years?” 

“I know, and I forgive you for that.” 

“Chloe,” Marinette growled, “get out of that seat.” 

“God, you’re such a bitch. So anyways I was thinking seafood…” 


	7. Marichat-"So it was you"

Chat Noir crouched in the shadow, waiting for the perpetrator to appear. This had been the first opportunity he had to actually catch the villain red handed, and he was determined that before the night was through he would apprehend his foe. 

So far things had been quiet. He had waited as Tom Dupain closed the shop, sweeping and straightening up after a busy day of sales.  He had watched with no small amount of delight as the jovial baker had put together the special tray of cookies that he had begun leaving on the back doorstep every Monday and Thursday night (Chat’s official patrol nights as stated on the Ladyblog). 

It had been an unexpected surprise- a thank you for his (if he did say so himself) heroic rescue of Marinette two months earlier. He had almost cried the first time he saw the beautifully arrayed tray of treats, tied up with green and black ribbon, and a note with a simple black paw print saying ‘for our hero.’ He certainly hadn’t expected to find a new offering later that week, but he had happily gathered up his gift and taken it home to devour with the ravenous appetite of a teenage boy. 

It was his favorite thank you he had ever received. He had gotten his fair share of attention and praise due to his exploits, and he certainly had no complaints on that score, but it was the first time that he had been singled out without his partner- a small reminder that he was capable of doing something great all on his own. 

He eagerly looked forward to his bi-weekly treats. Sometimes he would leave thank you notes that he would then see displayed around the bakery on his less clandestine visits. Once he left a bouquet of flowers for Sabine on her birthday. He even made a point to put extra effort into making sure that Marinette was kept safely away from akuma attacks as a sign of gratitude. It was the least he could do in exchange for the delectable pile of macarons, madeleines, palmiers, arlettes, and his personal favorite- frosted butter cookies in the shape of a cat. 

It had started 5 visits ago. 

There had been an akuma attack just the day before outside of Notre Dame. He had- rather dashingly- deposited both Marinette and Alya into the loving arms of the Dupain-Chengs before the fight could really begin, and he knew from experience that that meant there was a good chance he would find something special waiting for him along with the regular cookies. He was secretly hoping for an eclair. So it was quite distressing when he arrived to find that his beautiful butter cookie cats had been destroyed. 

He figured a stray cat must have managed to work its way into the packaging, and sadly disposed of the rest of the snacks, not wanting his benefactors to feel responsible for something out of anyone’s  control. 

It wasn’t until the next visit that he realized something was very wrong. 

This time he checked first to make sure the packaging was intact. Smiling excitedly when there seemed to be no signs of disturbance, he unwrapped the tray only to find that once again his cats had been vandalized. 

He frowned, picking up one of the broken cookies and examining it. He quickly grabbed another, his scowl deepening as he realized that this was no accidental mishap. 

Someone had systematically pulled out each of his beloved cat cookies and bitten off their heads. 

The same thing had happened on the next two visits. Between the time the Dupain-Chengs placed his gift on the back entry way and the time he arrived for patrol, the fiend had murdered his cookies. 

Not this time though.

For once his father’s unscheduled business trips had played in his favor, granting him an unexpected evening free of both obligations and adequate adult supervision. (He was pretty sure the Gorilla had simply given up trying to curtail his sneaking out whenever father or Nathalie wasn’t around. It would also explain the sudden appearance of a new number in his cell phone that simply said- for emergencies.) 

This time, nothing would stop him from confronting the saboteur. 

It was already well past dark and creeping up on the time that he would usually hit this part of his patrol route, so any minute now he would face off against his enemy. 

He heard the soft click of a door latch and crouched deeper into the shadows as he saw the back door of the bakery open. His eyes widened as he watched the familiar figure, perfectly visible to him even in the dark, carefully unwrap the elegant ribbons. They pulled out one of his perfect, delicious cats and with a loud crunch bit mercilessly through it’s head. 

He pounced. 

They tumbled to the ground, the perpetrator letting out a startled shriek as he pulled her down and then flipped her onto her back, trapping her beneath him- arms pinioned above her head, the evidence of her crime still clutched between her fingers. 

“So,” he said as he glared triumphantly down into Marinette’s startled blue eyes, “it was YOU.” 


	8. "Who were you with?" Alyanette

_ I can’t lose you. I can’t lose you _ . 

The words pounded in Marinette’s brain as she stood frozen in her room, silently begging for Alya to turn around and look at her. 

“Are you going to at least tell me where you’ve been?” her friend asked quietly. 

“I was… I was just helping one of the other girls with a quick errand.” 

“Who were you with?” 

“Juleka,” Marinette said, pulling a name at random, the lie feeling like acid on her tongue. 

Alya turned around then, the betrayal palpable in her eyes. “Juleka is at her grandparents house in the country this weekend, she mentioned it to Rose and I yesterday after class.” 

There was no anger in Alya’s voice, just a soft, broken certainty that made Marinette want to fall to the ground and plead for forgiveness. To turn back time so that she never knew that her friend’s normally exuberant voice could sound that defeated. 

_ I can’t lose you _ . 

“Alya please-” 

“Why can’t you just tell me?” Alya cried, tears pooling in her eyes. “I am trying to understand! Is it me? Did I… do you not trust me?” 

“No! Of course not!” 

“Then what is it Marinette?” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “Why are you avoiding me?” 

“I’m not…” 

“Yes you are! You… I barely see you. I try to talk to you and you’re shutting me out and I don’t know why, and I can’t-” Alya choked back a sob, her hand coming to her mouth to try and stifle the sound as Marinette felt her own vision blur with tears. 

_ I can’t lose you.  _

“I… Marinette you have to know…” Alya shook her head, “I don’t think I can do this,” she whispered. 

Marinette felt her heart shatter into a thousand pieces. She didn’t care about the risks, she didn’t care about the rules. She was losing the most important person in the world and she would never be able to live with herself if she didn’t try to make things right. 

“Tikki, Transform me,” she called. 

She watched as Alya’s eyes went wide as the flash of blinding pink light faded revealing her transformation. 

“It’s not you,” Marinette said through her tears, “it was never you! I just… I had to…” 

“Marinette?” Alya asked, her voice trembling with disbelief. 

Marinette willed the transformation away, Tikki immediately whisking away so as not to disturb them. She knew that her kwami would have words for her later, but right now all she cared about was removing that empty look from Alya’s face. 

“It’s me,” Marinette nodded. 

“This whole time?” 

“I’m sorry, I am so, so sorry.” She rushed forward, reaching out to grab Alya’s hand but hesitated, uncertain. “It had to be a secret, otherwise… please say something?” 

Marinette waited, hardly able to breath as Alya just stared at her, her expression unreadable, the words still pounding in her mind-  _ I can’t lose you _ .

Her whole world spun as Alya’s lips crashed against her own, fingers twisting into her hair with a desperate need that made her knees go week. She melted into the kiss, her own arms wrapping around Alya’s neck, as her heart pounded, scared and ecstatic and overwhelmed with more emotions than she could name. She clung to Alya as the kiss deepened, hands wandering along her body in a way she had never dreamed she had wanted until this moment. 

Nothing would ever be the same again, there would be no going back from this. Everything she thought she knew had been turned upside down. But through the fog in her mind one thought rang out clear- _ I can’t lose you _ .


	9. Chloenette- "I need you, though."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning- contains some spoilers

“You’re probably wondering what I am doing here.” 

“Yeah!” Marinette said, clutching her covers to her chest as she tried to process the sight of the super heroine sitting cross legged on the edge of her bed. “How did you even-” 

“I came in through your skylight,” Queen Bee said, cutting off the question with a wave of her hand, “Chat mentioned a while back that you usually keep it unlocked, and I needed to talk to you.” 

“I am going to kill that stupid cat,” she muttered under her breath. 

“What?” 

“Nothing,” Marinette said quickly. “So, what are you doing here?”  

“Well you see, the thing is… wait, are you naked under there?” Bee gasped, her eyes going wide and her face flushing an obvious red even in the semi-darkness.

“No! Why would you say that?!” Marinette shot back, her own face coloring. 

“Well you are doing the whole, blanket clutchy thing!” 

“Because a stranger has shown up out of nowhere in my bedroom in the middle of the night and I am in my pajamas!” 

“But I’m not a stranger, I’m a superhero. And I know that Chat visits you.”

“He doesn’t come in when I am sleeping!” 

“Oh. I guess you have a point there,” Bee said, looking thoughtful. “Anyways I need your help.” 

“My help…” Marinette said, wondering what on earth could possibly be happening. 

Had her identity gotten compromised? Did Bee know that she was Ladybug and that’s why she was here asking for help? It wasn’t like they had ever had any interaction outside of their suits. 

“Yes, your help,” Bee said assuredly. “Now this is probably going to require some backstory. After all, I am sure you are wondering why a superheroine would need the help of some random civilian.” 

Well, that answered that question at least. 

“Some backstory would be nice,” Marinette said, wondering what on earth her life was coming to. She hoped to God that Chat wasn’t somehow giving the others the impression that she was some sort of superhero therapist. 

“Well I am sure you know all about my assorted heroic exploits,” Bee began, with that edge of arrogance that Marinette was familiar with in her newest partner, “and I am sure that you could only imagine how awesome it is to be someone like me.” 

“Uh huh,” Marinette said flatly. 

“But…” Bee hesitated, biting her lip nervously, “my regular life, the non superhero one… well let’s just say things aren’t going quite as well.” 

It looked like she was playing therapist after all, but Marinette couldn’t find it in her to be upset. She had never seen Bee showing this sort of vulnerability to any of them, not even Chat- who after an initial period of mutual distrust she had become fairly close to, (a pair of nerds the both of them)- and they had all been working together for months. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Marinette asked hesitantly. 

Bee nodded, her flush intensifying as she struggled to find the words she was looking for. “Ok, ok. I can do this,” she muttered. 

Marinette sat up, trying to make herself more comfortable as she waited for the other girl to begin. 

“Ok. So for this to make sense there are a few things you need to know first,” Bee began. “You see a lot of this centers around a girl.” 

Marinette nodded. She wasn’t particularly surprised. Bee had never been subtle about her crush on Ladybug. 

“So, for a long time I’ve had a crush on a girl in my class,” Bee said, her eyes fixed on her hands as she nervously twisted her fingers together. “At first I didn’t really know it was a crush, and then by the time I did… well things had already gotten kind of complicated.” 

“You two were already friends?” Marinette asked. 

“No, we were already enemies,” Bee said, glancing up guiltily before dropping her gaze again, her flush deepening. “According to my best friend, I can be… how did he put it… a spiteful vindictive bitch who isn’t worth the effort.” 

“That’s terrible! What sort of a best friend says something like that?” Marinette gasped. 

“Well, that’s actually the real problem,” Bee said, her eyes glistening slightly with tears, “we aren’t best friends anymore.” 

“Well good,” Marinette said reaching out and grabbing Bee’s hands, “he didn’t deserve you.” 

“No, you don’t… you don’t understand,” Bee said between sniffling sobs, “he was right.” 

“Oh,” Marinette said dumbly as the distraught girl clung to her hands, the tears running freely now. 

“I was awful, and terrible and I want to get better, but I couldn’t stop and I am sorry, I am so sorry…” 

Marinette leaned forward and pulled Bee into a hug, drawing a startled gasp from the heroine. She held her tightly, trying to convey as much love and support as she could to her unknowing friend. Bee hesitantly returned the embrace, seeming almost afraid to indulge in the small intimacy. 

“Look,” Marinette said, “I don’t know you that well, but I’ve seen the way you interact with Ladybug and Chat and Vixen. Clearly you know how to be a good friend, regardless of what this guy says.” 

“You... you watch videos of me?” Bee asked, her voice trembling with hopeful excitement. 

“Of course,” Marinette lied, resigning herself to her fate of convincing her partners that she was some sort of obsessive fangirl, “you are amazing.” 

“I can’t believe that you watch videos of me,” Bee said with a watery laugh, “wow. That… thank you. I needed that.” She broke the embrace and pulled back, giving a hesitant smile.

“You’re welcome,” Marinette said softly.

“You know that top is really cute,” Bee said, “you really should rock the low cut look more, it’s very flattering. Just because you’re petite doesn’t mean you don’t have killer boobs.”

Marinette flushed. “So, you had a falling out with your best friend?” she said to distract from the unexpected rush of warmth she felt from the compliment.

“Yes,” Bee took a deep breath, “so let me try to give you the full story. So, like I said, I have actually had a pretty massive crush on… this girl, for a while now, but we were pretty much enemies. In fact, my friend wasn’t really far off the mark when he said I was a bit of a bitch.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I didn’t really have a lot of friends. I sort of grew up in a way where people have to be nice to me so I didn’t really bother to care why. A- the boy I was talking about, well he was the only person I actually had a real friendship with, and for a long time we only really had each other, so I never saw any sort of a problem. Well, then he started making other friends and…”

“And he left you behind?”

“No. Nothing like that, it was more… he saw how I was compared to them.”

“Oh,” Marinette said, “I see.”

“And it was like, the more he gravitated towards them, the more I hated them. I mean, I had never really been nice to them but… it was like I wanted to prove that it didn’t matter. That I hadn’t brought this on myself. So whenever he would try to talk to me about it, I would just brush it off. Tell him that he just didn’t know any better yet.”

“So what happened?”

“Well we got into a fight. A bad one. And I realized that I was losing him and I didn’t have anyone to blame anymore. This was also right about the time that I realized that a lot of my feelings weren’t  _ exactly  _ what I thought they were, and that kinda put some stuff into perspective, but that’s a whole long story with a party and champagne and accidentally making out with my OTHER friend, who I don’t like like that but it made me realize I DID like  _ girls _ like that and… anyways it’s not important.

The important part was that I wasn’t about to end up one of those miserable losers with no friends sitting around waiting for someone to change them. I mean for god’s sake I am-“ she cut herself off with a cough, “I’m stronger than that,” she finished mildly.

“Go on,” Marinette said encouragingly.

“Well I started making more of an effort, and for a while it was actually getting better. I mean it wasn’t easy but…” she shrugged. “Then I got my Miraculous and it was amazing. I mean, I was working with Ladybug! She was my idol! If anyone could help me be a better friend, it would be her. And of course Chat’s great, the melodramatic little nerd. And even Vixy is pretty cool when she isn’t trying to hog all of Ladybug’s attention. Plus she’s smoking hot which helps.”

“Yeah you’re not wrong,” Marinette muttered. “It looks like things were getting better for you, what happened?”

Bee gave her another guilty look. “Remember the girl I mentioned? The one I have the massive crush on? Well… my best friend likes her too.”

“Oooohh. And he doesn’t know that you like her.”

“No, he thinks that I like him.”

“But you don’t.”

“No, I do.”

“Wait, now I am confused…”

“It’s called Bisexual, it means you like both guys and girls? I would figure you would know this already, I mean you’re best friends with Cesaire for god’s sake.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Marinette said with a pout, “I mean you also like your best friend? Like…  _ Like _ , like?”

“Yeah.”

“And he doesn’t know that either?”

“Oh no, everybody knows that.”

“And I’m back to being confused again,” Marinette sighed. “Also, how did you know that I am best friends with Alya?”

“We’ll come back to that,” Bee said quickly. “So the run down is like this- I’m kinda in love with my best friend cause… duh. You’ll understand that in a minute. Meanwhile, I am also definitely in love with my arch enemy, but no one knows that and we fight all the time. My best friend finally realized that HE was in love with yooooooooouuuuu know who… hehehe… and so he started getting more and more upset with me for always being mean, which just got me even more upset because if you two get together then I am just totally screwed so that can’t happen. But then I pushed too far and he told me that we can’t be friends anymore and I can’t live with that. I’m used to him not liking me back, but he’s never not been my friend and it’s horrible! And I tried to apologize but he isn’t talking to me, and I HAVE to fix this Marinette. I HAVE to!”

“Uuhhh…” Marinette said her eyes wide as the heroine shook her by the shoulders. “This sounds really complicated. I mean I am happy to listen and help but, I don’t know if I am the best person to talk to. I mean, why me? We’ve never even spoken to each other until tonight. Shouldn’t you try talking to one of your other friends first?”

“Oh I did. Chat and I talked things out for like 3 hours. He may be a nerd with a terrible sense of humor but the guy is a freaking marshmallow, super supportive. Gives pretty decent advice too.”

Marinette blinked. “But if you talked to Chat then why are you talking to me?”

“Well I’m following his advice,” Bee said, leaning in conspiratorially.

“And his advice was to come talk to me?”

“Not exactly,” she smiled shyly.

Marinette could feel a strange tingle of anticipation running along her spine, of what exactly she wasn’t sure. She felt like there was a puzzle piece waiting to be clicked into place. She swallowed. “Wha… what was his advice exactly?”

Bee’s smile grew and Marinette couldn’t help glancing at her lips. When had the other girl gotten so close?

“Well he said that if I wanted to make things right with my friend that I needed to first work things out with my crush.”

“Makes sense,” Marinette said, not even fully aware of what she was saying as Bee slid even closer, her lips hovering just inches away from her own. “And you need my help with that?”

“It is kind of crucial to my master plan,” Bee laughed, reaching up to brush Marinette bangs out of her eyes.

“Why?” Marinette breathed.

“Because I’m in love with you, you dope.” And with that she leaned in the rest of the way.

Marinette’s mind went blank as their lips met, lost in the feeling of softness and heat. The kiss was gentle, almost reverent, as if she were something precious that at any second could shatter. Instinctively her head tilted to a more comfortable angle, her breath hitching as she felt Bee’s hand gently cup her face. They both leaned into the kiss, lips cautiously pressing to deepen this kiss just enough that there could be no mistaking the fluttering of want that passed between them.

“Wow,” Bee sighed, breaking the kiss but not fully pulling away, “that was… damn. No wonder our whole class is in love with you.”

“yeah…” Marinette laughed shakily, trying to gather her scattered wits and wondering what would happen if she leaned forward again.

“Wait…” she said her mind clearing slightly, “what do you mean our whole class?”

Apparently she wasn’t the only one who had been eager for more, because instead of answering, Bee leaned forward and kissed her again, more confidently this time. Her fingers threaded into lose hair as her lips nibbled and pressed eagerly against hers.

Marinette melted momentarily against the sensation, her body crying out to be touched and loved, before she pushed the other girl away.

“What do you mean OUR whole class?” Marinette said again, firmer this time.

Bee grabbed her hand, threading their fingers together as a bright, familiar flash of yellow light shot across her body, revealing a grinning Chloe Bourgeois in its wake.

“Would you give us a minute Pollen?” Chloe said to the exasperated looking kwami buzzing next to her shoulder.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” the little demi-god sighed before darting off to go explore Marinette’s room. In a small corner of her brain that was still capable of rational thought, Marinette wondered if the kwami knew that Tikki was there as well.

“I know it’s kind of a lot to process,” Chloe said kindly, which in and of itself made Marinette’s already overwhelmed brain hurt. “That was Pollen. She helps me turn into Queen Bee obviously. I can introduce you two properly later.”

“Ch… Chloe…” Marinette choked out. “You’re… YOU’RE…”

“Yes I’m a super hero. I know it’s kind of a big deal.”

“YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH ME?” Marinette shrieked, grateful that her parents were out of town for the night, since calm and quiet was pretty much past her ability right now.

“Oh, yeah…” Chloe blushed, “I mean I had originally planned on working my way up to that part, I mean not that I am complaining or anything, but-“

“Oh my GOD I Kissed you!”

“Yeah, it was pretty great right?” Chloe grinned, preening.

“Oh… I can’t breatl6h…” Marinette whined, digging her fingers into her hair and wondering if it would be too much of an abuse of her powers to try and summon a way to redo this whole thing. She felt a comforting  squeeze on her other hand and relaxed slightly, until she remembered that CHLOE was sitting on her bed, holding her hand. She pulled it away like she had been burned.

“Hey, relax, I am not asking you for a commitment or anything,” Chloe said, holding her hands up apologetically. “Besides, as unbelievably amazing as that was, it’s not the reason I am here,” she said resolutely.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE?”

Chloe gave her an exasperated pout, “I TOLD you, I came here to confess that the reason that I am always so mean to you is because I liked you, so that you could forgive me, and be my friend, and help me get back Adrien, I thought I was pretty clear on that.”

“Adrien…MY Adrien… the boy I have been  _ pining  _ over for months… this whole conversation has been about you and Adrien?” Marinette said as the implications of that statement sunk in.

“Yeah. Again, how is this unclear? I mean I may have gotten a little off topic what with the whole you liking me back thing-“

“I never said I liked you back!”

“You certainly kissed me back.”

“That is beside the point!” Marinette said her face going scarlet.

“You’re right,” Chloe said, “we have bigger problems to discuss than your denial”.

“No! No discussing! You need to go so I can curl into a ball and die!”

“Oh god, now you sound like Adrien. God I have a type, don’t I? Even Ladybug is a total dramaqueen once you get to know her, and she is by far the most chill of my crushes.”

Marinette pick up her pillow, shoved it against her face and screamed.

“Come on,” Chloe pleaded trying to pull the pillow away from her face. “We don’t have time for this, you have to help me!”

Marinette gave another frustrated wail.

“Please?”

“No.”

“I need you though!”

“Marinette is not here, please leave a message.”

“If we make out some more would that make you feel better?”

Marinette let out another muffled scream.

…

A few feet above next to the skylight Chat Noir sat wide eyed with his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. 

He had NOT seen any of that coming. 


	10. Ladynoir "Wanna go out sometime?"

“That’s it, I’m calling it,” Ladybug growled as she and her partner cowered behind the stone column. Another volley of balls whipped towards them. “Baseball is the stupidest sport in the history of the world!” 

“Oh come on now My Lady,” Chat grinned, “no need to _ pitch  _ a fit about it.” 

She glared at him. “Is this really the time, chaton?” 

“Sure, we seem  _ safe _ back here.” 

Ladybug rolled her eyes before darting out and diving behind the next pillar, while her foe refilled his horrifying auto pitching machine. Chat managed to fling himself behind an adjacent column just as the next volley began launching out at them. 

“Come out and fight me!” the akuma bellowed. “Where is your sense of sportsmanship?” 

“No need to be in such a  _ foul  _ mood,” Chat called out, “but you can’t really blame us if we don’t find you all that  _ striking _ .” 

Ladybug couldn’t help but smile as the akuma roared in annoyance, fixing his attention on Chat and allowing her to take another running dive towards the akuma. Her partner was laughing and smiling behind his own hiding place, occasionally popping out to whack some of the speeding balls back at the akuma with his baton, which only further infuriated their foe. He really was a fantastic partner. 

“Come and face me you mangy cat,” the akuma shrieked, waving his bat above his head. 

Ladybug made another running pass, finally circling out of the range of his weapon and creeping up towards the akuma from behind, waiting for her moment to strike. Hopefully Chat could buy her just a little more time. 

“You’re way _ off base _ if you think I will fall for that sort of baiting.” Chat laughed. “Hey My Lady, as long as I’m thinking about it, want to go OUT sometime?” he called, causing the akuma to turn back towards where she had previously been hiding. 

Ladybug seized the opportunity, summoning her lucky charm- a skateboard. She flung her yo-yo out, wrapping it around the enchanted bat and kicked the board forward so it went crashing into the akuma’s legs. He stumbled, losing his grip on the bat and allowing Ladybug to easily pull it from him, breaking the cursed item and purifying the akuma. 

“Good game, kitty,” she smiled as he came over to exchange their obligatory fist bump, “although asking me out there might have been a  _ stretch _ .” 

Chat eyes gleamed happily at her teasing. “But My Lady, after I so gallantly went to bat for you, I would have thought you would love a nice _ walk _ .” 

She laughed, tossing the skateboard into the air and watching the cloud of ladybugs soar off to repair the damage done to the city. 

“Sorry chaton, I’m more into fencers myself,” she said, flicking his bell playfully. 

Chat gave her a choked laugh, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Touche My Lady, touche.” 


	11. Ladynoir- Are you fucking insane?!

“Give me one good reason why we shouldn’t,” Chat said, crossing his arms and leveling her with his most determined stare. 

“Oh, I don’t know, how about because I don’t even know your actual name?” 

“So we tell each other, it’s been long enough.” 

“Are you fucking insane?” Ladybug hissed. “We can’t just-” 

“Can’t just what?” Chat interrupted, “can’t just be honest with each other? It’s been  _ three years  _ Ladybug, and I for one am tired of putting my life on hold for some maniac and his color changing butterflies.” 

“But the risks,” she tried weakly, even as her blood began to race when her partner stalked towards her. 

“The risks will always be there. Why can’t we face them together?” he said softly, his hands reaching out to gently stroke up and down her arms. 

“We already do,” Ladybug said stubbornly, “we have a great partnership just the way we are. Why should be change that now?” 

She knew why. Of course she knew. It was her own fault after all. She had been the one to start this whole mess in the first place. 

He leaned forward, ducking his head so that their eyes were level. She could see the conflicted feelings dancing in his eyes- frustration, hope, amusement, and pure unadulterated want. 

She swallowed heavily. 

“I am a pretty patient cat,” he said with a slight smirk, “but there are only so many times we can make out in back alleys and on darkened rooftops before we have to admit that this isn’t some mistake.” 

Her traitorous eyes dropped to his lips as she remembered their last encounter, and she was once again reminded that this really was her own fault. She had been the one to kiss him two months ago, lonely, and slightly tipsy, and desperate to know that someone wanted her after another attempt at a real relationship had crashed and burned. 

She could have ended it there. Played if off as a one time fluke. Preserved their friendship and closed that door. 

But kissing Chat had been a revelation. He kissed her like he needed her to breath, like no matter how much he got, it would never be enough. He didn’t paw and grab at her like a greedy child let loose in a candy store. When he touched her he worshipped her. It was like he was trying to memorize every inch, every curve. Like the secrets of the universe were somehow hidden inside her. 

He kissed her like he loved her. And Chat had never lied to her. 

She met his eyes again, and it was almost like he could read her thoughts. He cupped her cheek with infinite tenderness, and it took every ounce of control she had not to pull him to her. 

“I know you want this,” he said, a slight tremor betraying the confidant words. “What are you so afraid of?” 

There was the real question.

She could hide behind her wall of denial. She could say that it was about the risks, the mission, fear of the ever looming threat of Le Papillon. But she knew that she was lying to them both. 

Instinctively, she pressed her cheek against his hand, her blood racing at the almost imperceptible shudder of breath that he gave at the slight intimacy. 

“Chat,” she breathed as his thumb stroked across her cheek, tracing the line of her mask, “there is no going back from this,” she confessed. 

And that was the real truth. Saying yes to this, to him, meant moving on. It meant something real and terrifying, and with the potential to change her whole world. Unlike Luc, or Stephan, who as much as she had pretended otherwise had only been stand ins, being with Chat- finally knowing the man behind the mask- would be the end of the comfortable predictability of her life as it was now. 

There would be no more not so secretly pining over Adrien while she sleepwalked her way through lackluster first dates and empty kisses. No more pretending that long cuddle sessions with Chat under the stars were purely platonic. No more safety nets of friendships that weren’t quite what she really wanted. 

“If we make this more than what it already is, if we get involved… we could be jeopardizing everything. Our partnership, our friendship… why would you want to risk that?” 

“Because I love you,” Chat said in a voice so sincere, so completely undone that it made her want to cry. “My Lady, I love you more than anything in this life, and if there is even the slightest chance that you could love me in return, there is no chance I would be unwilling to take.” 

It was the first time he had ever actually said the words. 

She broke, pushing up on her toes and capturing his lips with her own. 

He moaned into her mouth, scooping her up into his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he stumbled forward until her back was pressed against stone, kissing and petting her with reckless abandon. She lost herself to the feeling of his fingers digging into her hips, his mouth claiming hers in a way that he never had before, as if determined to prove that she was finally his. 

He broke away from her gasping for air and began showering her face with kisses between whispered endearments. She dropped her head to his shoulder, breath coming in heavy pants. She saw a bright flash behind her closed eyelids and felt a strange rush of magic. 

Her heart skipped a beat and she felt the warmth of skin as gloveless fingers lifted her face, once again tracing along her cheeks at the edge of her mask. She kept her eyes screwed shut as he kissed her again, bare hands threading into her hair. Her own fingers twisted into the soft fabric of his regular clothing. 

“My Lady,” he begged, “look at me. Please.” 

She kissed him one last time before slowing opening her eyes. 


	12. Ladrien, "Honestly, just stop it"

Marinette snuggled deeper into the covers with a soft contented sigh. Everything felt so wonderfully warm and peaceful and… 

Her eyes shot open as the arm wrapped securely around her waist tightened and a face nuzzled against her neck with a sleepy groan. 

She looked down, her eye immediately locking on to the familiar silver ring on the hand that was lightly caressing her, as well as her own spotted ensemble. 

She was Ladybug. She had fallen asleep transformed. 

Tikki was going to kill her. 

She blinked hard shaking her head from the hazy, sleep induced fog, as the memories came rushing back. 

She had saved Adrien, defeating the fangirl turned akuma with no trouble and putting on a rather heroic display if she did say so herself.  It had only made sense to follow Chat’s example of checking in on victims after the akuma attacks. Never mind what Tikki had pointed out- that A. she had never bothered to emulate her partner in this regard before and B. that Adrien wasn’t actually the Akuma victim in question- it had been an unselfish act of… 

Oh who was she kidding? She had shamelessly shown up at his window hoping to flirt with him. 

What was she supposed to do after the way he had looked at her as she had thrown her lucky charm into the air to cleanse the city? He had even reached out to her before nervously pulling his hand back, awkwardly fussing with his hair. 

She had only gotten 3 minutes! Three minutes of the boy of her dreams blushing and thanking her and looking at her like she hung the stars in the sky! How was she supposed to survive on only three minutes? 

So she had waited until her parents had gone to bed and hurried over, just to check on him. MAYBE see if she was daring enough to sneak in a quick kiss on the cheek before she left. 

Of course, if she had known how much more daring Adrien was willing to be, she wouldn’t have bothered waiting for her parents to fall asleep. She would have dropped everything and raced to his window as fast as she could manage. 

He had invited her in, looking adorably flustered and slightly rumpled in his black sleep pants and honest to God ‘I <3 Ladybug’ Tee shirt, nervously offering her a seat, snacks, a tour of his room. 

It had been so endearingly sweet, so breathtakingly  _ Adrien, _ that she hadn’t even thought twice before saying with a giddy laugh, “how on earth can you be this cute?” 

He had stared at her for a good 10 seconds, his face as red as her suit, while her own brain processed exactly what had just happened. 

“Oh,” she had gasped in horror, “What I meant was… I didn’t mean… I mean you are but-” 

She hadn’t gotten to finish whatever horrible excuse she had been floundering to come up with because his lips had smashed clumsily against her own. It was awkward and messy and lasted barely a second and oh dear God did she want to do it again. 

“I’m sorry,” he stammered guiltily, “I should have-” 

This time she cut him off, digging her fingers into his hair and dragging his mouth back to her own. 

Marinette’s face warmed at the memories, and she snuggled further back into Adrien’s arms. 

They had kissed for hours. Occasionally taking short breaks to cuddle and pet at each other, exchanging small tidbits of information between heated make out sessions. 

She couldn’t have told you at what point they had managed to get from where they were originally standing in front of the couch to his massive bed. Still she wasn’t complaining. 

Adrien let out another unconscious little moan, rolling over in search of a more comfortable position, his arm releasing her and dropping across his own chest as he lay sprawled on his back. 

Well that wouldn’t do at all. 

She flipped over, her head resting on his shoulder her fingers skimming the tempting bare skin of his abdomen where his shirt had ridden up. 

He flinched slightly with a soft snort. 

Marinette bit back a giggle of almost demonic glee as she lightly dragged her fingers across his stomach. Once again he twitched in agitation, twisting back and forth in rebellion at the sensation. 

He was ticklish. 

She pounced, straddling on top of him and tickling him mercilessly, bursting into peels of giddy laughter as he attempted to escape her clutches through his own choked laughter. 

“Hey no fair, I was sleeping!” he gasped between breathless chuckles. 

“Were you?” she asked innocently as he finally managed to capture her hands and flip her underneath him. 

“Yes, I was having the most lovely dream,” he grinned, lowering down to give her a quick kiss, “that a beautiful girl was lying in my bed.” 

“Oh should I be jealous?” she teased, running her toes up the inside of his calf. “Am I just a poor blip on the radar for the big shot model?” 

“Honestly, just stop it,” he said, rolling his eyes, cheeks flushing slightly. 

Marinette grinned. He really was ridiculously cute. 

“What time is it anyways,” he murmured, letting go of her wrist and grabbing for his phone on the bedside table. 

She took the opportunity to once again bury her hands into his silky blond hair. Perhaps if she spent enough time ruffling it tonight, she wouldn’t be tempted to reach out and start fussing with it during class tomorrow. 

Adrien stared at his phone and then gave her an inquisitive look. “Do you need to get headed home?” 

“Eventually,” she shrugged. “But my parents won’t check on me till around 7:30, so as long as I leave by 7:00 I should be good.” 

He nodded, programming in an alarm on his phone before flopping back down onto the bed and pulling her securely into his arms. 

“Okay, all set, now go back to sleep.” 

She wriggled in his grasp so that she was facing him. 

“What time is it anyways?” 

“3 am.” 

“So…” she said coyly, nuzzling her nose against his chin, “we technically have 4 more hours until I need to leave.” 

“Yep, four more hours of sleep,” he said with a deliberately chaste kiss to her forehead. 

She pouted, slipping her hands under his shirt to slide up his back. She smiled in triumph as she felt him shiver at her attention, despite his valiant attempt to stay still and pretend to be unaffected. 

“Are you sure you want to sleep?” she asked, peppering soft kisses along his jawline. “You know there is this magical thing called coffee that- OOPH!” 

She gave out a startled squeak as  Adrien flipped her around so that he was spooned against her back. 

“No. As incredibly tempting as that may be, you need to get some sleep. Believe me, My Lady, I have every intention of kissing you as often as possible, but we all know that unlike Alya, coffee does little to keep you from drifting off in the middle of class.” 

Marinette’s eyes went wide. “What…?” 

“Go to sleep.” 

“But, what do you mean the same… how…?” 

Adrien let of a soft laugh as he held her tightly, placing a soft kiss to her temple. “You talk in your sleep, Marinette.” 


	13. Marichat- Just stay with me

Marinette huddled under her blanket, her hands clutched around a mug of steaming tea to help fight off the cold. 

She didn’t want to go inside. 

She thought she had seen the worst of it. She had faced down so many akumas. She had fought against her best friend with barely a flinch of hesitation, knowing that she could do what needed to be done and that everything would be alright. She thought there was nothing she couldn’t handle. 

She had never thought she might have to fight her own mother. 

Marinette huddled further into the corner of her terrace. 

They had been victorious, of course. Cleansing the akuma and restoring the city to rights. But while the superficial damage may have been repaired, the emotional damage was taking a toll that Marinette had never realized was possible- until it struck at the heart of her own family. 

The attack last night had been all over the news. They always were. The first time the footage aired that morning, Marinette had watched in horror as her usually indomitable mother burst into tears, shutting herself in the bedroom and leaving a silent Tom and Marinette to finish the morning’s preparations. The normally bustling bakery had been a ghost town, and even though Marinette was off from school, her father told her there was little she could help with and to go enjoy her day off. There wasn’t much to be done anyways.

Alya had insisted that this was normal and would die down in a day or two, sending Marinette several links to articles and interviews she had done on the subject. It didn’t do much to lift Marinette’s spirits, but she couldn’t help but feel an awed sense of pride at the incredible dedication her friend had towards her site.  

Sabine had of course eventually recovered after a few hours. Coming down and joining Tom in the empty shop, but in spite of her attempts to act as though everything was fine, the general atmosphere was sullen. Tom had ultimately retreated to the kitchen to take his frustrations out on a new bread recipe he wanted to try, and Marinette had retreated to her balcony. 

She felt like a failure. 

She kept seeing the image of her mother- twisted and transformed into one of Hawkmoths minions- glaring at her, lunging forward to rob her of her Miraculous. 

It had been by far one of her worst fights. Her mind had been unable to focus, instead racing with questions and wondering if she could have stopped this. 

Thank God for Chat. He had immediately registered her distress and more than picked up the slack, taking the lead for a change. He had forsaken his habitual good humored flirting, and managed the battle with a quiet, efficient intensity that she would not have expected from her usually exuberant partner.

It had been over in a matter of minutes, one of their shorter battles if she was being honest. But it had somehow felt like an eternity, and she had barely been able to get through the traditional fist bump before fleeing the scene so that no one would see her burst into tears. 

Now here she was, huddled helplessly against the wind, her face stained with tears that had been falling on and off for the last few hours, ashamed to go inside. 

She heard the sound of footfalls on the roof and looked up, expecting to see her father. Instead she was met with the concerned green eyes of her partner. 

“Chat… what are you doing here?” she asked, fighting the urge to straighten up her appearance. 

“I like to check up on the victims after the attacks,” he said, collapsing his baton and stowing it behind his back. 

“I wasn’t the victim.” 

“I know. I already spoke to your mother down in the bakery.”

“Oh,” Marinette said, surprised, “How…” she trailed off. 

“She’ll be ok,” Chat said, coming to sit down beside her. “She was blaming herself for something she had no control over.” He gave Marinette an assessing glance. “Seems to be a trait with the Cheng women, I see.” 

She laughed softly, then scooted closer and dropped her head against his shoulder, too tired and too heartsick to care that she was untransformed, and therefore shouldn’t be showing this level of familiarity.

Chat’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he made no effort to stop her, only adjusting so they fit together in a more comfortable angle. 

“I didn’t know you did this,” she said quietly. 

“Did what?”

“Visited with the victims. It’s very kind of you.” 

“No one should have to go through something like this alone,” he said. “Pain is worse if you don’t talk to anyone about it. It can change you, leave you broken. Even hurt the people around you.” 

“You sound like you have some experience on the subject.” 

“I might.” 

She nodded slightly and took a small sip of her tea. “Do you talk to all of the victims?” she asked curiously. 

“No, not all of them. Some of them don’t need it. I’ll go to check in on them and they will already be on the road to recovery. Your friend Alya, for example. She had her own ways of coping.” 

“You should have talked to her anyways. You know she would have adored getting a personal visit from Chat Noir.”

“You know, in retrospect you’re right,” he said with a small smile. “Next time I’m on patrol, I’ll make a point of letting her catch me for an interview. Unless you want to make my life easier and just help with a set up?” 

“She’s coming over for a sleepover tomorrow night,” Marinette said, feeling warmer for the first time all day.

“I’ll be sure to coincidentally land on your balcony during my rounds. Say around 9:00?” 

Marinette smiled. 

“So, who was the most difficult person for you to talk to?” she asked. 

Chat thought for a moment, his brow furrowing in concentration. 

“Probably the little girl, the one who stole all your dolls, remember?” 

“You talked to Manon?” 

“Yeah, that one was rough. Not gonna lie, I went home that night and put together a Hawkmoth dart board. Might have gotten a little carried away. Even stabbed the thing with a fencing sword, if you can believe it.” 

Marinette laughed, pressing closer against her partner and he wrapped an arm around her. 

“That’s actually kind of fantastic,” she said, “Do you still have it?” 

“Nah, my father made me take it down. I think it freaked him out that I was violently lashing out at what most of Paris thinks of as some unknown mystical super being.” 

“What do you think of him as?” 

“Exactly what he is- some guy in a suit who thinks it’s ok to terrorize innocent people for his own selfish gain. He might have powers, but he’s just an ordinary man.” 

“Like you are?” she said, looking up at him, and for the first time desperately wishing she could know the boy behind the mask. 

“Exactly.” 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Marinette sipping on her tea without really tasting it, and Chat rubbing his hand idly up and down her arm over the blanket. 

“Why did you come to talk to me?” Marinette asked at last. 

“Because you looked like you needed a friend,” he replied. 

“I do,” she admitted, hating the pricking of tears she could feel returning to her eyes, “I really do.” 

“Is there anything I can do for you, princess?” he asked tenderly, wrapping his other arm around her and pulling her in close. 

“Just stay with me.” 


	14. Ladynoir- "You love me, right?"

It was not the way he expected it to go down. Which, honestly, was rather impressive, because in the past two years of their partnership Chat Noir must have plotted out at least 50 different possible scenarios in which he finally heard the coveted words. 

They had been joking around, legs swinging off the edge of the parapet and laughing, enjoying the warm breeze. 

“Come on, you can’t tell me that your birthday is this week and not let me get you a present,” Chat whined. “What sort of partner would I be?” 

“The last thing I need for my birthday is a dead rat on my doorstep,” Ladybug teased as she once again failed to do a Jacob’s ladder with her Yo-yo. She scowled down at her weapon and Chat had to bite back a laugh. There was something incredibly endearing about the fact that, for all the truly amazing things she had done with the magical item, she couldn’t seem to get the hang of a simple trick. 

“Ah, but you know that I won’t be giving you that, because I don’t know where your doorway is,” Chat grinned, “so your argument against my giving you a gift is invalid.” 

She rolled her eyes, but he could see her fighting back a smile. 

“Come on,” he whispered, dropping his chin onto her shoulder, “I’ll get you anything you want.” 

“Anything?” she asked, twisting her head to look at him and causing their noses to brush together. 

“Cross my heart and swear  _ not  _ to die, because I already promised you I wouldn’t after what happened last month.” 

She narrowed her eyes at him, her lips twisting into the disapproving pout that had become one of his favorite expressions. Not that he had a lack of those where she was concerned. Still, this particular look of fond annoyance was easily in the top 20. 

“Please?” he cajoled, stretching out the vowels like a hopeful child asking for a new toy. 

She looked away and Chat smiled. If she couldn’t meet his eyes it meant she was caving. 

“If Mayor Bourgeois is allowed to give you a statue, the least I should be allowed to do is get you a birthday present,” he whispered, trying not to fist pump as he saw her bite her lower lip. Victory was almost assured at this point. “Please?” he said again. 

“Anything?” she asked hesitantly. 

“Anything,” he assured her in the same quiet voice while internally he screamed in triumph. In fact he would probably be annoying Plagg later with his obligatory victory dance. 

Ladybug said nothing, continuing to stare out into the night, but Chat had learned patience was the key to these sorts of moods, so he simply waited, his head continuing to lull against her shoulder. 

“Chat?”

“Yes, My Lady?”

“You love me, right?” 

He felt his breath catch in his throat. He knew she didn’t mean it the way he wanted her to. It was a friendly statement, a joking lead-in to a request that usually meant she was insecure about something. It wasn’t the first time she had said it, but he still couldn’t help but be affected by the words. 

“Of course, to the end of my nine lives and beyond,” he said, his tone light despite the rapid pounding of his heart. 

“And you won’t make fun of me?” she said, with just enough of a tremor in her voice to belie her playful smile. 

“Never. Cat’s honor.” 

She took a deep breath and reached her hand up to pull at the collar of her suit. 

“What are you doing?” Chat squawked, his face turning beet red as her fingers slide beneath the fabric and down towards her collar bone. 

She gave him a bemused smirk as she pulled out a carefully folded note, much to Chat’s simultaneous relief and dismay. 

“Never figured you for a prude,” she said, tapping him on the nose with the paper. 

“What is so important that you felt the need to carry it around under your suit?” he grumbled, then instantly regretted his outburst when her shoulders hunched slightly. “Is it a picture of me? Admit it, you pull it out to stare at it when I am not around.” He gave her his most salacious smirk and she gave him a playful shove, the momentary flash of doubt replaced with amusement. He mentally high fived himself on the nice save. Another thing to brag to Plagg about when they got home. 

“No. It’s a letter.” 

“I assume you are either going to elaborate, or you have decided to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming the world’s greatest calligrapher.” 

“What?”

“Never mind, you never did appreciate my sense of humor.” 

“It’s a letter for my crush.” 

His heart sank. 

“It’s stupid,” she said hurriedly, “it’s not even signed. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t even bring myself to give him an anonymous love letter! I stupidly thought that maybe I would get lucky and run into him as Ladybug, and maybe then I could…” she trailed off with a miserable laugh that broke his heart far worse than her infatuation with someone else. 

“My Lady-” 

“It’s horrible,” she cried, scooting back just enough so that she could look at him, “seriously, you have no idea how pathetic I have been.” 

“Come on, it can’t be that bad.”

“For months I couldn’t even speak a complete sentence in front of him,” she wailed, “much less tell him how I feel!” 

“That’s totally normal.” 

“Oh, it get’s better. Because I wasn’t just content to make a fool of myself. No, then I compensated by getting worse! My room is plastered with pictures of him. I have one framed on my nightstand!” 

“You are hardly the first person alive to go overboard about a crush,” Chat said, thinking of his own hoard of fangirls, which had only increased as he edged closer to adulthood.

“I wrote down his schedule on my calendar. In detail! Every time I learned something new, up it would go in big swirly cursive with little hearts and everything.” 

“OK, that’s admittedly a little weirder,” Chat winced, although he was somewhat amused at the image of her dotting little hearts all over the place, “still it could be-” 

“I stole his phone!”

“OK yeah, you’re crazy.”

“I told you. Instead of just confessing to him like a normal person, I turned into,” she gestured helplessly at herself, “this.” 

“But at least you admit it,” he said kindly, “and if need be, I can get you the name of an excellent therapist.” 

She gave him a weak smile, and he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into a gentle hug. 

“I thought if I could just give him this letter, even if he didn’t know it was from me, then I could… I don’t know, not move on exactly but, get better, maybe?” 

She fiddled with the piece of paper in her hand and somehow, seeing her like this- relaxed and vulnerable, and just a little bit insane- made him love her even more. 

Maybe they would never amount to anything. Maybe she would end up with this mystery crush, or the next one. But in that moment Chat knew that he would never regret loving this girl. He would be happy to stay by her side in whatever way she needed him. That would be enough. 

“Do you want me to give it to him for you?” he asked, any regret he might have felt vanishing at the hopeful look that sprang to her eyes. 

“Would you?” 

“Of course, Bugaboo. Although, if this turns into some sort of wacky rom-com where he thinks that I am the secret admirer and starts chasing after my dazzling good looks and unparalleled charm, you are not allowed to make it my fault.” 

“Ok,” she laughed, leaning her head back against his shoulder with a sigh that he could swear reverberated in his very soul. 

“So who am I delivering this to anyways?” he asked a little shakily, carefully plucking the letter from her and slipping into into the pocket of his suit. “Who is this dashing rogue who has turned you into a literal lovesick schoolgirl?” 

“Adrien Agreste,” she confessed with a blush. “I’m in love with Adrien Agreste.” 

It was definitely not how he had expected things to go down. Never in a million years would he have dreamed up this scenario of how he finally heard the coveted words- his name on her tongue, her voice saying that she loved him, HIM, of all people. 

It was not what he expected- but damn if it still wasn’t the greatest moment in his life. 


	15. DJWifi- "Sorry, were you sleeping?"

Alya couldn’t help but smirk as she crept towards the figure slumped over the library table. His eyes were closed, headphones over his ears to block out the noise. It was hard to tell from this angle if he was actually asleep or just engrossed in music. Sitting down carefully, she cautiously reached out and poked him in the cheek. 

He let out a slightly agitated snore, head twitching at the unexpected pressure, before settling back into peaceful slumber. 

Alya bit back of squeal of delight. 

This was it! Her moment for perfect revenge. 

Ever since she had gotten her miraculous, Alya had been having… difficulty adjusting to her new schedule, so it wasn’t uncommon to find her passed out sleeping at random points through the day. 

Marinette, bless her little heart, had never called her out on it, and more often than not just curled up and took a nap as well whenever Alya passed out during their hang out sessions. 

Nino, however, had not been as kind. The number of times she had woken up to awkward photos, ridiculous hair styles, loud musical alarm clocks, and the occasional game of ‘how many origami cranes can I stack on top of her head before she wakes up’, were past counting. 

She couldn’t be too angry. Between her increased disappearances and her habit of dozing off on her boyfriend with no explanation, she was mostly just happy that he seemed to approach the thing with his usual good humor. A few cranes stuck in her hair was a small price to pay for his overall understanding at her sudden lack of availability. And it wasn’t like he ever did anything malicious. Plus, she knew that he did the same thing to Adrien, who had a similar habit of falling asleep when left unattended, so it wasn’t like he was singling her out. 

Stil,l the chance to turn things around on him for once would be a nice change. Especially after the 1812 overture incident. 

She leaned back in her chair, trying to think of the perfect revenge. After a few minutes of careful thought, she smiled. 

As gently as possible, she pried off his headphones. Hardly daring to breath, she stealthy worked them off of his head without jarring him from his slumbers. His head settled back against the desk and he let out a soft snore. 

Alya grinned in triumph and reached into her bag, pulling out her history textbook.

She scooted her chair closer and raised the book as high above her head as possible, before dropping it onto the thick wooden table. 

“IDIDN’TDOIT!” Nino shouted, jumping out of his seat, only to trip and crash face first back into the desk as Alya broke into gales of laughter.

Blinking the sleep back from his eyes, Nino glared at his traitorous girlfriend. “What the hell was that Babe?” 

“Sorry, were you sleeping?” she grinned. 


	16. Ladynoir- “Maybe I’m just crazy.”

“Looks like I win this one My Lady,” Chat said twirling his baton before striking an arrogant pose. 

“That wasn’t a fair challenge, you are taller than I am.”

“You never said I had to play fair.” 

“Alright fine, what’s your question?” Ladybug sighed. 

Chat tilted his head to the side, clearly debating what bit of information he wanted to get this time. 

As much as she grumbled and teased, Ladybug had to admit she rather liked this bizarre game they had begun with each other. On slow nights they would come up with all sorts of competitions, and the winner would get to ask the other a question that they had to answer truthfully. He had never pushed for anything that would be a dead giveaway to her identity, sticking instead to more neutral things like her favorite dessert or what she thought the most important quality in a good parent was. It didn’t hurt that she won their little contests more often than not. It had proven to be an extremely effective way of learning more about her partner without letting on just how curious she had become as to who the boy behind the mask really was. It was better that he didn’t know just how interested she was. After all, he had made no secret of the fact that he would happily tell her anything she wanted to know, right down to his name and address. 

Still, despite her insistence on continued secrecy, she selfishly treasured all the little tidbits that she had gathered thus far on her partner. He loved cheesy movies and liked to sing along with musicals- even though singing was not his strong suit. He had a terrible sweet tooth, but hated having chocolate in the morning. He preferred tea to coffee, and craved sushi whenever he was in a bad mood. He thought girls looked sexier when they left some things to the imagination, and his idea of a perfect date was cuddling under blankets while watching movies and playing video games. While she had never said it aloud to anyone, part of her eagerly hoarded these secrets, in hopeful anticipation of the day she would walk the streets of Paris no longer clad in red and black, but still side by side with the laughing, blond haired boy who had become one of her dearest friends. 

“Ok,” Chat said, pulling her attention away from her musings, “I have my question.” 

She looked at him expectantly. 

“Why won’t you go out with me? And don’t give me the ‘I don’t know who you are’ speech, ‘cause I know that’s not what this is about,” he said. before she could launch into her usual argument. 

“Maybe I’m just crazy,” she said, fiddling with her yo-yo and trying to sound flippant.

“Look,” Chat said, leaning against a chimney, “I am not gonna get upset, and I am not using this to try to guilt you into anything, I promise. I just…” he dropped his eye contact. “You’re the only person I’ve ever tried to pursue, and we both know that was a bust, so I want to know what I am doing wrong.” 

“I see,” Ladybug said, not sure how to interpret the strange mishmash of feelings his statement caused. “Did you… I mean, have you met someone?” 

“No… yes… I dunno… Maybe. I just thought… I figured I should know where I am going wrong, so if I do decide to try for something, I won’t completely crash and burn.” 

“Oh, Kitty,” she said, torn between amusement and horror at his look of complete dejection, “it was never anything wrong with you. Any girl would be lucky to have you- or boy, I mean you never really said-” 

“It’s a girl,” he said, rolling his eyes playfully and giving her a small smile. “You haven’t completely ruined me for other women, bugaboo.” 

“Well, regardless, it was never about you.” She felt her face flushing a little as she tried to meet his eye. “I never really said anything because I didn’t want to be mean, but I sort of already like someone else.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said looking panicked, “I didn’t… I mean I should have guessed-” 

“It’s ok,” she laughed, “it’s not like we are together. And besides, while you may be a flirt, you are hardly overstepping. In fact, you are a rather gentlemanly tomcat,” she teased. 

“Well of course, My Lady,” he said with a bow, “you deserve nothing less after all.” He straightened with a smile, but his tail still twitched nervously. “So I’m not completely hopeless then?” 

“Not at all,” she said warmly. “If it wasn’t for the fact that I already have someone, I might have even thought about asking you out,” she admitted. He preened at the compliment, the familiar happy gleam lighting up his face at her approval. “But don’t take that as an excuse to sit around waiting for me,” she said, poking him lightly in the nose.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, smiling and batting her hand away. “Besides, all I ever wanted was your happiness, and if you think you can find that with… whoever it is you like, then that’s enough for me.” 

“Thank’s Chat,” she smiled. 

“Just make sure you invite me to the wedding.” 

“Chat…” 

“Trust me, you want me at this wedding. A Ladybug wedding would be incomplete without Chat Noir you know.” 

“Ok. I promise you’ll be there.” 


	17. Ladynoir- Don't be an ass

“Hey Kitty,” Ladybug said as she landed at their predetermined meeting place.

“Hey,” he replied, not bothering to get up from his place lounging against a stone gargoyle. 

“You know, I almost didn’t recognize you without the cloud of flowers,” she teased. 

“Ha ha, very funny,” Chat grumbled, slouching further down into the shadows. 

“What, no poetry this time?” she grinned, sitting down next to him and giving him a playful nudge. 

“Don’t be an ass,” Chat said, although she didn’t miss the lack of his usual good humor in the reply. 

“Hey,” she said softly, “you know I’m just teasing right?” 

“Yeah,” he replied glumly, “I know.” 

She gave him an assessing look. “You know that nobody blames you for what happened today.” 

“I never thought they did, but that doesn’t really make what happened any better.”

“You are hardly the first person to get affected by an akuma.” 

“No I’m not. That might mean more if this was the first time this had ever happened and not the half dozenth.” 

“Chat, nobody is perfect all the time.”

“You are,” he retorted bitterly. 

Ladybug raised an eyebrow. “Tell that to Lila. Or Chloe. Or that Santa Claus. Oh yes, I am so perfect, I managed to turn the literal embodiment of joy and good cheer into a monster.” 

“Ok, maybe you aren’t perfect,” Chat said with the smallest hint of a smile. 

She grinned back encouragingly. 

“Still,” he said softly, though this time finally meeting her gaze, “you’ve never gotten possessed by an akuma. Today might have just been an inconvenience but, what sort of hero am I if I am just getting in my partner’s way, or worse? What happens the next time we get another dark cupid?” 

“Chat, do you remember why you got possessed by the akuma?” Ladybug asked, reaching over and grasping his hand in her own. Chat didn’t say anything, his eyes fixed on their joined hands with a look of awe that made her heart pound in a way she wasn’t quite willing to own up to. “You were protecting me, you took that hit for me.” 

He looked up at her, his brilliant green eyes hopeful but still full of doubt. 

“Let’s look at the scoreboard shall we?” Ladybug pressed. “Princess Fragrance- you got taken out trying to protect Prince Ali, the akuma’s intended target. Dark cupid- you got hit to keep ME from getting affected. Same thing for Chrono girl! Are you seeing a pattern here?” She gave his hand a light squeeze. “You tell me all the time that your job isn’t just to protect the city, it’s about protecting me so that I can purify the akuma. And if that’s the case, I don’t think anyone could say you have been anything less than amazing at it.” 

Chat blinked, his lips twisting into a watery smile before he leaned forward and pulled her into a smothering hug. 

“Thank you, My Lady. You always know just what to say to make this cat feel a-purrr-eciated.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, allowing him to hold her tightly for a few moments before gently breaking away, her face flushing. Hopefully he would be too distracted to notice. 

“Besides,” she laughed lightly “it’s a good thing you were there to keep me from getting affected by ‘The Bard’. Do you realize how worthless I would have been writing love poems and chasing after Adrien Agreste?” 

“Wait what?!” 


	18. Ninoir- "You can trust me."

“Come on, this way!” Nino shouted, grabbing the frantic looking boy by the hand and practically dragging him towards a small storage closet across from the library. They ran, both conscious of the high pitched beeps signaling the final minute. 

Nino threw open the door to the closet and Chat Noir dove inside, slamming the door behind him just as a flash of brilliant green light burst out from the crack at the bottom of the door. 

Nino slumped to the floor, his back pressed against the closet door and his breathing heavy. That had been close. 

“You ok in their dude?” he asked between gasps. 

“Yeah, thanks,” came the nervous reply from the other side of the door. The voice sounded softer somehow. Probably a result of the lack of transformation. 

“Don’t worry, I promise I won’t try to look or anything,” Nino said, “you can trust me.” 

“I know,” Chat Noir replied. Nino flushed with pleasure at the indisputable certainty in the heroes voice. 

“Can I get you anything? Some water maybe,” he asked, tilting his head towards the door even though there was no way his companion could possibly see him. 

“Get me some cheese,” a different voice whined. 

“Plagg, stop being a glutton for two seconds, will you?” 

“But I’m hungry!” 

“Who is that?” Nino called curiously through the door. 

“Oh… it’s… well it’s Plagg. He’s my kwami. It’s sort of a long story.” 

“Is he like your superhero sidekick?” Nino asked excitedly. 

“Sidekick?! I am an immortal demi-god I am no one’s sidekick,” the high pitched voice shot back at him. “Without me, there would be no Chat Noir. If anything, the kid is my sidekick.” 

“Oh,” Nino replied, soaking up the information. Alya was going to be so jealous. 

“Now bring me some cheese, puny mortal, before I perish from starvation! Preferably some well aged Camembert.” 

“Plagg!” the boy who was Chat Noir groaned, clearly embarrassed by the demi-god’s demanding attitude. 

Nino couldn’t help but smile. How cool was this guy that he could be so chill towards an immortal being that granted him super powers? 

“It’s too bad my boy Adrien isn’t here,” he laughed as he pulled out his bag and began rummaging through it, “I swear he is obsessed with that stuff.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice,” the strange creature replied with a sly tone, “I bet your friend wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave all of his delicious camembert locked away in his bookbag instead of carrying it around in his pocket where it belongs.” 

“Plagg I swear to God-” Chat Noir growled, and Nino couldn’t hold back a small choked laugh. 

“Hey,” he cried triumphantly, pulling out a small snack bag his mother had once again snuck into his satchel, “it’s not camembert, but I do have some Brie and-” 

Before he could finish the sentence a small black blur shot out  _ through _ the door and landed on his knee. 

“Hand it over kiddo!” the tiny catlike creature purred, tail twitching in anticipation. 

Wordlessly, Nino held out the small container full of grapes, crackers, and of course the coveted cheese. 

“So,” Nino called to Chat Noir as he watched the little god happily nibble on his treat, “does this happen often?” 

“Does what happen often?” he called back. 

“Getting stranded without your powers?” 

“Sadly more often than I would like,” he admitted. “Its pretty rare that I am not the first one to use my powers, but I can’t exactly just ditch My Lady in the middle of a battle. It’s a bit rough, but I’ll take a few close calls if it means I keep the people I care about safe.” 

Nino grinned again. God this guy was cool. 

He wondered if anyone had ever given much thought to this particular dilemma Chat Noir faced. So much attention was given to Ladybug because of her amazing powers. Not that he thought she didn’t deserve the attention, but Nino had always felt that a lot of his friends undervalued how important Chat Noir was to the dynamic duo. Where others saw weakness- namely Chloe and Kim- he saw sacrifice. After all, how disastrous would it be if Ladybug ever fell under the influence of an akuma? Nino spent enough time hero chasing with Alya to know that most of hits Chat took were for the sake of his partner. Perhaps it was his devil may care attitude, or perhaps it was the unspoken knowledge that his powers were actually pretty terrifying, but not a lot of people seemed to give Chat Noir the kind of appreciation he deserved.

“You know,” Nino said careful, “no offense to Ladybug, but you’re my favorite.” 

“Really?” he replied, sounding more than a little awed. 

“Yeah. I mean it’s a lot easier to be the hero when you get all the praise and the cool finishing move. It’s a lot harder to be the person who’s job it is to soak up the damage, you know?” 

“Thanks. I… it’s really nice to hear you say that.” 

“How old are you anyways? I mean, if I’m allowed to ask.” 

“I just turned 16.” 

“Dude! You’re my age, that’s crazy!” Nino said with a chuckle. “How do you do it? How can you stand going out there every day, knowing that any second you could be fighting another monster? Doesn’t it get exhausting?” 

“Sometimes. But it’s worth it. If it means I am protecting people like you, it will always be worth it.” 

Nino felt his cheeks go scarlet. “Wow man… thanks.” 

“I mean it,” Chat Noir said, his voice barely audible through the door, “you help make this fight worth fighting. You are brave and loyal, and don’t need superpowers to be one of the most heroic people I’ve ever met.” 

Nino’s breath caught. “I… jeez… what am I supposed to say to that?” he joked weakly, “Chat Noir is calling me a hero.” 

He heard a small scoffing sound from the little being still perched on his leg, gobbling up the last of the cheese. 

“Your little blogger friend was right. You two really are one of those obnoxious lovey-dovey couples.”

“What?” 

“Plagg!” 

“How did you- she was talking about-” 

“I swear to God Plagg, you are not getting another bite of camembert for the rest of the month.” 

“ADRIEN???


	19. DJ Wifi- "Is that my shirt?"

“Is that my shirt?” Alya asked as she walked into the living room where her fiance was eating breakfast while flipping through the netflix cue. 

“Hey I got you some viennoise au chocolat,” he said holding up the tempting looking loaf with a knowing grin. 

“Don’t change the subject,” Alya said, even as her fingers twitched at the smell of her favorite treat. “Are you or are you not wearing MY shirt?” 

“Well I thought we would match,” Nino said lightly, a mischievous gleam in his eye as he looked down at the ‘Chat Noir love’s mew’ tee shirt he had stolen from her side of the dresser. 

“Match?” Alya said with a raised eyebrow. 

His smile grew wider as he pointed to a simply wrapped box sitting on the coffee table. 

“What’s this,” Alya asked warily coming down to sit on the couch next to him. 

“Just open in.” 

Alya plucked up the package and carefully unwrapped the pale orange paper. She pulled back the tissue paper and gasped. 

“Is this the new Miraculous line Ladybug dress? I didn’t think these were even out for release until next month!” 

“Eh, I know a guy,” Nino said wiggling his eyebrows. 

“Well tell Adrien I said thank you,” she teased leaning in to give him a kiss. “Thank you. What’s the occasion anyways?”

“Now I know you haven’t had your morning coffee,” Nino laughed reaching into the box and plucking out an envelope. 

Alya pulled out the card. 

_ To the love of my life and my dearest friend: congratulations on the 7th anniversary of the Ladyblog. It takes a hell of a women to help save the world and still report about it too. I am proud of you Foxy Lady,  _

_ Your’s always- Nino _

Alya felt tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. “You remembered,” she breathed, “I didn’t even remember!” 

“Well I have always been the responsible one in our little group.” 

Alya leaned back in for another kiss, deeper this time. “I love you so much.” 

“I know.” 

“Oh God, you’ve been watching Star Wars with Adrien again haven’t you.” 

“I absolutely have not, I’ve been watching Star Wars with Marinette,” he laughed as Alya playfully pounced on top of him and began nibbling at his neck. 

“Did you want to try on your new dress?” 

“I might need some help getting out of these pajamas first,” she grinned. 


	20. Ninette- “You Look really tired”

Marinette slumped down on the bench in the school courtyard and finally let her smile drop. 

“Five minutes,” she said to herself, “Five minutes and then you can make it the two blocks to your house.” Hopefully the bakery would be busy enough that she wouldn’t have to put on a show for her parents. Maybe if she was lucky she could grab a quick nap before popping a handful of caffeine pills. 

7 akumas in six days. 

It was too much. She was exhausted, stressed, and she didn’t even want to think about what sort of note was bound to get sent home to her parents before the end of the week. It would be miracle if she wasn’t grounded for the rest of eternity. She was pretty sure she had overhead them talking about the possibility of her being on drugs. 

She pressed her hands to her temples and tried to will herself not to cry. Maybe if would be better to just sneak back to the classroom and nap there. True she wouldn’t have any lunch but she could manage without for a day. 

“Hey,” a soft voice said beside her. She looked up to see Nino hesitantly sitting down next to her. 

“Hey,” she said back trying to throw a hastily manufactured smile on her face, “what’s up Nino?” 

“You look really tired,” he said without any preamble. 

Marinette let her smile drop. “I just haven’t been sleeping well,” she said scuffing the ground with her toe. 

“Yeah,” Nino said lightly, pulling off his hat and toying absently with the brim, “I can see that.” 

Marinette let out a relieved breath at his lack of probing. Alya would have started grilling her for answers for such a shallow fib. 

“Well that Lit project has been pretty stressful,” Nino said. 

“Yeah.” 

“Not to mention the whole saving the city from emotionally distraught possessed monsters. I would imagine that would cut into one’s regularly scheduled naptime.” 

Marinette jumped, “How did you- I mean! What? What are you talking about?” 

Nino gave her a bemused smile. “Wanna try that again, you were almost convincing.” 

“When did you figure it out?” she asked, too tired to try and hide it anymore. To tell the truth it was a relief to have someone else know her secret. 

“About a month ago,” he said with a shrug. “I figured it was best to just keep it a secret, but with everything happening lately I thought you might need a friend.” 

She gave him a grateful smile.  “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t glad you figured it out, but you know you could be in real danger.” 

“Eh, danger is my middle name,” he joked fixing his hat onto Marinette’s head. “Besides I’ve already been akumatized so I doubt Mr. Butterfly is going to be bothering with me anytime soon.” 

“At least not until Adrien’s next birthday,” Marinette teased. 

“Nah, it’s all good man,” Nino said grinning, “besides me and G-man are tight now don’t you know.” 

“G-man? Please tell me you actually called him that to his face.” 

“Are you kidding I’m not suicidal. But seriously I think we’ve established a real rapport. The last time I went to see Adrien he said- and I quote- Oh, you’re here as well.” 

Marinette laughed. “Wow, you’re right. Clearly you’re best friends now.” 

Nino stood up and held out his hand. “Come on, lets get you home and in bed. I am really good at convincing other people’s parents that they are sick.” 

“Really?” 

“Why do you think Adrien’s not here today? Poor dudes almost as wiped as you. Stupid photoshoots.” 

Marinette stood shakily to her feet, but before she could start walking Nino came over and scooped her onto his back in a piggyback carry. 

“Come on Maribug, let’s take you home.” 

Marinette closed her eyes and nodded, relaxing against his back with a smile. 


	21. Marichat- "I cant trust you”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Companion piece to #7 Marichat-So it was You.

“Chat put me down!” 

“Not gonna happen.” 

“Shouldn’t you be off fighting that akuma?” Marinette shouted as Chat leapt them both over another gap in the rooftops as he continued to race towards his destination. 

“Yes but not until I know you are safe,” He said, squeezing her a little tighter against his chest. It would be endearing if it wasn’t so incredibly inconvenient. 

If she had known Chat was already on the scene, she would have run off to find a safe place to transform instead of attempting to keep the akuma away from Alya by throwing her shoe at it. The distraction had worked at least. But while Alya had enough self preservation to allow herself to be dragged to safety by Nino, Marinette now found herself being whisked off in the complete opposite direction of where she needed to be, and without her shoe no less. 

“Where are you going?” Marinette asked, as he leapt again, trying to get a look at the surrounding landscape. Her breath caught in her throat as she suddenly realized the familiar pattern of houses. 

With a final jump he landed on the street below. 

“Chat, no… no please-” 

“Sorry,” Chat said flatly, lightly kicking open the door in front of him with a soft jingle of bells, “I can’t trust you. This is for your own good.” 

Marinette felt her heart drop as both of her parents as well as a half dozen customers turned to stare at their arrival. 

“Marinette?” her mother asked, eyes wide. 

“Mrs Cheng,” Chat said striding forward and finally setting Marinette down in front of her parents, “Mr. Dupain. I am sorry to disturb you, but there was an akuma attack across town.” 

“Oh my goodness, Marinette are you hurt?” Tom asked hurrying around the counter. 

“I’m fine!” Marinette said watching in dismay as several of the customers pulled out their cellphones to get up close footage of one of their heroes in action. 

“You’re daughter is very brave,” Chat said proudly, “she even managed to save one of her friends from danger. But I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her on my watch,” he said with a small bow and Marinette made a mental note to smack him upside the head later as Ladybug. He was sure to give her an excuse.

“Thank you so much!” Sabine gushed catching Marinette up in a bear hug that made Marinette feel a little guilty. She looked over at Chat who was watching the scene with a soft, wistful smile. It was hard to stay mad at her partner when he was looking at her like that. After all, he was clearly just trying to keep her safe. 

“Thanks,” she said softly. 

“Anytime princess,” he replied, catching her hand and placing a delicate kiss against her fingertips. “Well I need to get back to the fight,” he said giving them all a jaunty salute and charging out the bakery door. 

“Mommy, can we go talk to Chat Noir’s girlfriend?” a small girl standing amidst the crowd asked excitedly. 

Marinette blanched as every eye in the room turned towards her. 

Never mind. She was definitely going to smack that stupid cat. 


	22. Marichat- "don't be fucking rude"

“What are you staring at?” Marinette cried at last, whirling in her chair to face Chat Noir who was mere inches from her face. 

“hold still, I am trying to count your freckles,” he said completely unperturbed by either her close proximity or her glowering expression. 

“Have you ever heard of personal space?” she hissed, “Don’t be fucking rude!” 

Chat blinked but showed no other sign of being deterred by her wrath. “I can’t count your freckles accurately from across the room, now hold still.” 

Marinette groaned but did as he asked, figuring it was easier to just indulge his insanity and get him out of the way then try to argue with him. She had no idea what had lead to Chat Noir’s bizarre visit today, or his sudden unprecedented interest in her life, if his non-stop questions earlier were anything to go by. 

“Are you almost done,” she whined, trying not to think about why she was finding his closeness so unsettling. 

“Just about,” he grinned, and her heart gave a traitorous little thrill. He really was unfairly pretty. 

“You have 27 freckles across your nose,” Chat said leaning in even further until their noses bumped. “And just for the record princess,” he said his voice dropping to a sultry whisper, “I am not fucking rude. When I am fucking I am extremely accommodating,” and before she could move he darted forward, kissed the tip of her nose and hurriedly ran away, laughing. 

…

The next morning Marinette trudged blearily into class. Her night had been restless, in no small part to the flurry of daydreams brought on by Chat’s parting comment. Even her icy cold shower this morning had done little to stop her wandering mind or flushed skin. 

“Good morning my bestest best friend who I know far better than Adrien know’s Nino!” Alya crowed as she dropped down into her own seat. 

“Are you two still going on about that?” Marinette sighed, dropping her head against the desk and wondering if she could try sleeping through class, or if she ran the risk of subjecting herself to another Chat-infused dream session. 

“This is the last day of our epic battle,” Alya said with feigned shock at Marinette’s disinterest. “I am going to be 50 Euro richer before class even starts. Where do you want to go for lunch?” 

“What if Adrien wins?” Marinette ask, cracking one eye open and looking up at her friend.

“Eh, he gets to pick my next 3 articles on the Ladyblog. But there is no way he is going to win. He would have to get my question right- doubtful- AND I would have to get his wrong, and there is no way Adrien knows anything about you that I don’t already know.”

“OK,” Marinette mumbled. Closing her eyes again. 

“Ah the man of the hour and his supposedly hertosexual life mate,” Alya cried. 

“We like to keep our love free from the tabloids thank you,” Marinette heard Nino say and Adrien let out a light laugh.  

“OK Agreste,” Alya said, “my final question, to see if you know my boyfriend as well as I do-”

“He does, you’re gonna lose babe.” 

“Shut up honey.” 

“Just giving you a head’s up.” 

“What,” Alya continued, “Is Nino’s favorite  _ childhood _ ice cream flavor?” 

“Trick question- Nino didn’t have Ice cream till you took him to get some on your guys second date.” 

“Damnit! Still, you haven’t proven that you are the most observant person in this little circle, you still haven’t given me my question. Despite your impressive line of questioning thus far, I defy you to come up with something about Marinette that you know and I don’t.” 

Marinette was glad her face was plastered against the side of her desk to hide her flaming face. 

“OK,” Adrien said mischievously, “how many freckles does Marinette have across her nose?” 

Marinette’s eye shot open. 

“You don’t know the answer to that,” Alya said warily. 

“Just answer the question,” Adrien said smugly, “or do you admit defeat?” 

“19,” Alya said nervously. 

“Wrong, 27. Looks like I win.” 

Whatever response Alya was about to give was cut off by Marinette’s loud, piercing scream. 


	23. Juleka/Rose- "I'm not wearing that!"

“I’m not wearing that!” Juleka cried looking down in horror at the fuzzy orange and pink sweater Rose was holding in front of her. 

“Why not? It will look great with your skin tone,” Rose smiled, “and its so soft! It’s like snuggling a kitten!” 

“No.”

“Please! It will be fun I promise!” 

“Still no.” 

“Just try it on? For me?” Rose pleaded, leaning in and tilting her head to the side as her lower lip trembled. 

Juleka sighed and held out her hands. 

“Yay!” Rose squealed, handing Juleka the sweater and all but shoving her into the dressing room. 

It took less than a minute for a very sulky looking Juleka to emerge, arms crossed and eyebrow raised as if daring for a compliment. 

“It doesn’t look… so bad…” Rose tried, grinning sheepishly at the hideous garment. 

“I look like that monster Mylene turned into. Except the monster looked cool.” 

“OOOOHHH!!!! We should make it look like that! We could do a whole set of clothes to make everyone’s akumas! It would be like showing our support. A way to show everyone that we still love them. I bet Marinette would be able to help with the alterations! I bet it will be a lot of fun to find something for Nathanael, his outfit was so artistic and chic! Oh your’s is totally going to be the best though because it’s all pink!” 

Juleka watched with a fond smile as Rose darted off towards another section of the store in search of more clothes that they could turn into akuma fashion. She sent a quick text to Alya and Marinette seeing if they were free and wanted to come join in the project. After all, anything that made Rose this excited and happy was worth a long day of shopping. 


	24. Marichat- "You're a terrible cook"

“Here, this should hopefully help you feel better,” Marinette said thrusting the bowl of steaming soup towards the pathetic figure huddled in a pile of blankets on her chaise. 

“Thank you. You’re kindness is only rivaled by yo…ACHOOOO!” 

“Serves you right, you hopeless flirt,” Marinette laughed. Chat glowered at her, but reached his hands out from his nest for the bowl. 

“Jeez, what is this lava?” 

“It’s soup! It’s supposed to be served hot.” 

“Hot, not fiery inferno.” 

“Just shut up and eat your soup,” Marinette said fixing her grinning intruder with her best impression of her mother’s serious face. 

“As you wish princess,” Chat grinned not looking the least bit penitent. 

Marinette watched as he took a loud slurping sip of his soup. He said nothing his brow furrowing slightly. 

“What?” Marinette asked, her shoulders hunching self consciously as Chat stared at her. He said nothing, his eyes narrowing further as he took another spoonful of the soup. 

Marinette held her breath as he looked at her again, his head tilted to one side thoughtfully. 

“You’re a terrible cook,” he said in an awed voice. 

“I am not,” Marinette argued her face flushing. 

“Did you try this soup?” 

“Well no…” He held it out to her. “I’m not going to try it now,” Marinette sulked, “you’re sick.” 

“Probably for the best, I think you put the whole dead sea in this.”

“What?” 

“It’s really salty,” Chat said with a soft smile, taking another spoonful of the soup anyways. 

“Well if you don’t want it you can give it back,” Marinette glowered, “I don’t see why you decided to come hang out at my place anyways.” 

“No one is home,” Chat replied quietly.

“Oh,” Marinette replied not sure how to deal with the sudden change of tone, “well I guess bad soup is better than no soup.” 

“Oh I could get soup,” Chat replied blithely his teasing smile coming back with a vengence, “top quality stuff too. That’s not the issue.” 

“What is it then?” Marinette asked glaring at the smiling, if sniffling cat in annoyance, as he continued to down her sub par offering. “Since clearly you could be back home enjoying 5 star cuisine instead of suffering through my terrible attempt at cooking.” 

“Well there are 3 reasons why I am here. One- I don’t like being alone when I am sick, I get moody. Two- While you are apparently a terrible cook, I know for a fact that you’re baking is excellent, and I am hoping if I look pathetic enough that you will shower me with pastries,” he smirked. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Marinette said rolling her eyes but unable to help the small grin that came to her lips. “So what’s the third reason?” 

“Five star cuisine doesn’t compare to getting homemade soup from the prettiest girl in Paris, I don’t care how salty it is,” Chat said, taking another deliberate spoonful. 

Marinette flushed and turned away before he could see the brilliant smile that she couldn’t have held back if she tried. 


	25. Plagg/Tikki- "You think you're funny?"

“What is wrong with you!” 

“Oh come on, don’t be so stuffy.” 

“You think you’re funny, don’t you?” 

“I think I’m hilarious, but that is entirely besides the point.”

“What were you thinking dropping the transformation! You know you can’t retransform unless he summons you! If she wakes up first-” 

“Then I get saved a lot of whining and heartache.” 

“Plagg!” 

“Oh let it go Tikki. Hawkmoth’s been defeated, they deserve to know. Its terrible that we’ve let it drag on this long.” 

“It was necessary! The dangers-”

“There will always be danger. Sometimes having support is more important. Now can you seriously look me in the eye and tell me that that kid doesn’t need some support right now?” 

Tikki deflated as she looked over at their two charges cuddled together amidst the blankets. “I suppose you are right. And I suppose with Hawkmoth out of the way the secrecy is less important. But still, we’ve always let them figure this out for themselves.” 

“They will figure it out for themselves, once they wake up,” Plagg grinned evilly. 

“Really? That’s your defence for breaking thousands of years of tradition?” 

“Come on, I am not that reckless. The poor kid needs something decent to come from all of this,” Plagg said softly, gazing at his charge with a look of infinite fondness. 

“Oh all right,” Tikki sighed, “I suppose it can’t be helped at this point anyways.” 

“Exactly. So tell me Tikki, scale of 1-10 how loud is your girl going to scream when she wakes up next to the love of her life?” 

“You know about Marinette’s crush?” 

“Everyone except Adrien knows about Marinette’s crush. HAWKMOTH knew about Marinette’s crush.” 

“That’s… actually probably true.” 

“So scale of 1-10?”

“I’m gonna go with 8.5.” 


	26. Marichat- “I’m not even sorry.”

“Mari…” Chat whined, “Please help me!” 

“Oh no, you got yourself into this, you can get yourself out.” 

“Come on, I was trying to be helpful and support your work!” 

“You were trying to be funny and failed. Although, ironically, now your pain is my entertainment.” 

“Come on,” Chat pleaded, “aren’t you worried that I am going to ruin your dress?” 

“I’m not even sorry,” Marinette grinned watching as Chat frantically tried to pull at the fabric that was clinging to his suit. “You are the one who thought it was a good idea to put the thing on in the first place.” 

“I think the zipper is stuck!” 

“Hold still I want to get a photo to send to Alya.” 

“Oh now you are just being cruel.”

“You’re the one who wanted to model, now smile for the camera!” 

“Mari!” 

“Come on, imagine you are eating your mother’s spaghetti!” 

“Whatever Vincent.” 

“Who?” 

“Nevermind, now help me out of this thing!” 

“Nope this is way too much fun.” 

“Come on, I am begging you!” 

“Not gonna happen.” 

“I’ll give you anything you want.” 

“You’ve got nothing you can offer me that is that valuable.” 

“What if I could get you tickets to the Agreste fashion Gala next month?” 

“Are you serious?” 

“Yes, is that worth my freedom?” 

Marinette screwed up her face in thought. On the one hand this was possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity for her, on the other hand Chat trapped in a pink chiffon party dress was one of the most amusing things she had ever seen. 

“Mari…” 

She sighed. “Turn around catboy.” 


	27. Ladynoir- You don’t want me

Ladybug sat at the top of the Eiffel Tower, her head in her hands, wondering how she could have possibly screwed things up SO badly. 

She heard the light footfall of her partner landing behind her. She couldn’t say she was surprised, he had never been one to leave her to stew in her own misery. 

“So…” he drawled, coming and sitting beside her, “that was an interesting broadcast today.” 

“It was a disaster,” she moaned, still not looking up at him, “I should just throw myself off this tower and put myself out of my misery.” 

“Oh come on, it’s not as bad as all that,” Chat said, patting her awkwardly on the back. 

She turned and glared at him. “It was a live stream, Chat! LIVE! It’s out there. Right now!” 

“True,” he conceded, nodding his head, “but it’s not like you said anything horrible. It was kinda cute actually.” 

“You don’t understand,” she moaned, slumping over so until she was curled up in his lap, “I’ve ruined everything! What sort of an idiot starts babbling about their crush on a live broadcast.” 

“Well, apparently you,” Chat said with a light laugh, cautiously reaching forward to play with the ends of her hair, “and about half of the rest of the known world. It could be a lot worse buginette.” 

“Do you think there is a chance he didn’t see it?” she asked hopefully, looking up at her partner’s thoughtful expression. 

He gave her a pitying smile. “I think you’re pretty much out of luck their bugaboo. You already have a ship name and everything. It’s trending on twitter.” 

“Ugh, that’s terrible,” she groaned, curling up tighter and burying her face against his leg. 

“I don’t know,” Chat teased, “I thought Ladrien had kind of a nice ring to it.” 

“This can’t be happening,” she moaned. 

“Hey, come on. What’s this really about? Is it really going to be so awful for the guy to know you like him? He might be flattered.” 

“It’s not that,” Ladybug said softly, “I mean, it’s MORE than that. I haven’t even told him I liked him- as myself, my not Ladybug self I mean. And now… let’s say he does feel flattered? That just means I have made myself my own competition! And it’s not like I can just go up to him and be like: Hey, by the way I’m Ladybug and, as you already know, I’m totally in love with you! Want to date me now?” 

“Oh god,” Chat said with a sudden sense of horror, “there are going to be so many desperate fangirls trying to do that.” 

“I didn’t even think about that! If he didn’t before he’s definitely going to hate me now. I might be the only person in the world who can simultaneously confess to her crush and make it harder for him to notice me!”  

“You really are one of a kind there bugaboo,” Chat said giving her another reassuring pat on the shoulder. 

“And what if this puts him in danger? I mean I might as well stamp a butterfly tattoo across his back saying ‘property of Ladybug, please exchange for one miraculous’!” 

“Please don’t do that. I am told that models need to be very particular about what they put on their skin.” 

“It’s not funny. What if I honestly made him a target?”

“Hey,” Chat said “I promise you, if anything happens, I will be the first person on the scene.” 

“Thanks,” she said gratefully, reaching up and catching his hand in her own.

“So, you’re in love with the model boy,” Chat said softly, rubbing his thumb absently against the back of her hand, “gotta say I didn’t see that one coming.” 

“Yeah well, it’s not like it really matters anymore,” she sighed, “it’s not like it would ever happen.” 

He scoffed at her, rolling his eyes theatrically to show his clear contempt for her pessimism. “So tell me, My Lady,” he asked shifting slightly so that he could look down at her with a playful smile, “what is it that you see in this guy anyways?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” 

“You don’t want me, so clearly you aren’t after the guy for his looks,” Chat said wiggling his eyebrows flirtatiously. 

“No,” Ladybug laughed, “although they don’t hurt.” 

“Why My Lady, was that you finally admitting that you find me attractive?” 

“You’ve always been attractive and you know it,” she said reaching up and flicking his bell. “As you can see I’ve just had my attentions elsewhere.” 

“Oh so this is a long standing attachment then? How long have you been dreaming of being M’Lady Agreste?” he teased poking her lightly on the nose. 

“Almost from the first day I met him. It will be two years next week,” she said softly. 

“The start of school,” Chat murmured, “you know him then?” 

“yeah,” she admitted reaching blindly around to catch his other hand and pull him to her like a security blanket. “We were in the same class in college and we still have a few classes together now. Plus our friends are dating so we hang out a lot.” 

“You two are close then,” Chat said a little breathlessly, “that… well that certainly clears things up.” 

“Yeah,” Ladybug said, “it’s not just some creepy celebrity crush. I mean, it kind of was that too. I have like 2 dozen photos of him plastered on my wall that I used to practice talking to because for the longest time I could barely string a sentence together around him, it was kind of embarrassing. I got over it eventually, but by that point I didn’t really have the heart to take the pictures down.” 

Chat gave her a warm smile. “I can see it now, you stuttering and tripping and shooting the poor confused boy adorable awkward smiles before running off in the opposite direction.” 

“Shut up,” Ladybug said but she couldn’t help grinning at her partner’s soft tone and fond smile. “I got better.” 

“I know.” He raised one of her hands to his lips and gave her a delicate kiss. “So you still haven’t told me what you see in this guy,” he challenged, “If I am getting demoted to your rebound choice, I deserve to know what I am up against,” he said slyly. 

“He’s kind,” Ladybug smiled, filling with warmth as she thought about her love. “He always wants to see the best in people,and he… he is just good, you know? The kind of goodness that doesn’t come from ignorance or being sheltered, but that has seen pain and and heartache and loss and yet still chooses to be good.” 

“That is high praise indeed My Lady.” 

“You aren’t going to make fun of me for this?” 

“No, My Lady. If anything I am going to love you more for it.” 

She gave him another grateful smile before sitting up. The sun had begun to set and she knew she should be getting home. She probably had a dozen of so missed calls from Alya waiting for her. 

“Well, who knows,” she said attempting to be flippant. “Maybe he’ll finally just reject me and I will change my mind about you Kitty.” 

“Wouldn’t that be a twist,” Chat laughed climbing to his feet and offering her his hand to help her up as well. 

“It would probably be for the best,” she sighed. “It’s not like we can be together. Not with Hawkmoth still on the loose. There is too much at stake. And I don’t know if I could bear having to hide my identity in a relationship.” 

Chat grinned again. “You are very wise My Lady.” 

“Mostly I am just telling myself that so I can feel better,” she admitted and was rewarded with a loud melodious laugh. 

“You know,” he said, eyes twinkling “you are probably right. Clandestine meetings, midnight makeout sessions, it’s probably better to hold out for the real thing.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Besides, I hate to break it to you My Lady but I have a sinking feeling that #Ladrien is not to be.” 

“And why is that Kitty?” 

“Well,” Chat said looking out at the sunset, “not to be the bearer of bad news but I have it on very good authority that your lover is very much spoken for.” 

“oh?” Ladybug said trying not to let her disappointment show. 

“Yes, completely and hopelessly in love. Someone at his school in fact.” 

“And who is this mystery girl?” she asked. 

“It’s right on the tip of my tongue,” Chat said his eyes glittering with something she couldn’t quite name, “it will come to me. I’ll have to tell you next time I see you.” 

“Well thanks for the heads up,” she said leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek, “and thanks for cheering me up.” 

“Always, My Lady. I should probably get heading home myself.” he pulled out his staff and and extended it. 

“Oh,” he said, shooting her a final grin as prepared to depart, “I do remember one thing.” 

“And what’s that?” 

“The mystery girl, I knew there was something about her that I found particularly delectable.” 

“And what is that?” 

“Her parent’s own a bakery.”  


	28. Ladrien- I can't do this

It was a surreal experience to be sitting next to Ladybug on the upper ledge of Notre Dame, staring out at the Sunset. 

Not the sitting part itself- they did that at least once a week in this very spot, (her favorite). No, the surreal part was that it wasn’t Chat Noir, hero to the helpless and Catsanova extraordinaire- (her words),  but regular old Adrien Agreste, sitting together with her, at their spot, trying to pretend that he wasn’t having to use every ounce of restraint not to fall into usual habits and give himself away. 

Something was clearly wrong. She was too quiet. Her usual spark seemed to be dampened by whatever was troubling her. 

If he were transformed he would probably be curled up in her lap, letting her fuss with his hair while he told terrible jokes that always managed to pull a smile from her, no matter how hard she tried to bite it back. 

As Adrien however, he simple had to wait. 

“You’re probably wondering why I brought you up here,” she said softly. 

He nodded, not fully trusting himself to speak. 

“I needed to talk to someone about things, and even though I know we don’t know each other very well, I feel like I can trust you. Can I trust you?” She turned to look at him, her eyes wide and full of a sort of longing that made him feel humbled. 

“Of course,” he said, his voice more raspy than he intended, “anything you need.” 

She smiled, though it seemed a little forced and turned to look back out at the fading sunset. Still at a loss as to what exactly he was supposed to do, Adrien reached up and patted her gingerly on the top of her head. Ladybug froze at the touch, and Adrien briefly considered just jumping off the edge of the roof and putting himself out of his socially awkward misery. 

To his absolute amazement, Ladybug crumpled- wrapping her arms around his waist and clinging to him as if her life depended upon it. 

She had done this once or twice before when he was transformed, but usually only after a particularly brutal fight. 

“Ladybug?” he asked, his arms instinctively coming up to hold her, his hands rubbing comforting circles against her back. 

“It’s too much,” she sobbed. “I know that I should be able to handle it, but sometimes it’s just too much. I feel like I am being pulling in so many directions that I can’t even keep anything straight anymore. I’m pushing away my friends and I am disappointing my parents and I can’t even tell them why. And I know that it matters, what I do as Ladybug matters, and I wouldn’t change that for anything, but sometimes…” she trailed off with a sniffle. 

Adrien held her tighter. He knew exactly what she was going through. In a rare bit of luck his overcrowded schedule and familial neglect had actually made it fairly easy to manage his constant disappearances, but he knew how hard and how lonely it could be. He certainly hadn’t had the ability to manage more than a handful of friends, and even then he was convinced that Nino was a saint for putting up with him. He could only imagine how hard it must be on his Lady, who surely had dozens of people who adored her. 

“Have you tried talking with Chat about any of this?” he asked cautiously. “I mean… I would think he would be in a better position to understand than… me.” 

Ladybug let out a soft broken laugh. “Yes, Chat would understand. He would listen, and he would make me feel better, and then he would try to fix it. He would try to take everything on himself so that I wouldn’t have be hurt. And even though he doesn’t say anything, I know he has it just as bad as I do. Sometimes I think maybe it’s worse. I get the feeling sometimes that his homelife isn’t a very happy one.” 

Adrien didn’t say anything. Her analysis was actually pretty spot on. 

“I don’t need someone to fix things for me. Nothing that I am saying is end of the world stuff… tomorrow none of it will seem as bad, I know that. I just needed someone to listen.” 

“Well I am always happy to help,” Adrien said, “if you ever need someone, you can always just knock on my window or something. I don’t get out too much these days.” 

“I don’t know if listening to me cry about my problems is much of an improvement,” she said shyly. 

“Nonsense. Fresh air, at least as fresh as one gets in the city, and I hear that superhero tears can do wonders for the skin.” 

“So I can repay you by assisting in your beauty regime?” Ladybug said looking up at him, her eyes still watery but with a little hint of their normal sparkle. 

“Hey, you can’t be too careful in my line of work.” 

“Explains why I’ve heard tales of your thrice daily showers,” Ladybug laughed. 

“Right,” Adrien replied, forcing a laugh of his own and once again cursing his inability to come up with less inane excuses. 

“Thank you for listening to me,” she said shyly, her arms still wrapped lightly around him as she looked up at him with an expression that Adrien refused to name, because there was no way that she was looking at him with something like adoration. 

“Of-of course,” he stuttered, “I always want to listen to you.” He felt his face flush but it was worth it as her face lit up with a dazzling smile. 

For a few minutes they just sat there, staring at each other, neither daring to move for fear of breaking whatever spell they were caught in. 

“Well I should-”

“Don’t go,” he interrupted. He heard her soft gasp of surprise. “I mean you can but… you don’t have to for my sake,” he babbled. “As far as I am concerned we can stay her as long as you want. I always want to spend time with you. I honestly can’t think of a time that I don’t want to spend with you, although that might sound kind of creepy, but I think you get the-” 

And that was when her lips met his. 

It was perfect. It was everything Adrien had ever imagined it to be. He lifted a trembling hand to her cheek, tilting his head slightly for a better angle and she seemed to melt into him. 

His eyes drifted closed and his head swam as his blood pounded in his veins, a steady rhythm of her, her, her! He heard her sigh against his lips and it was like his whole body caught fire. He felt a slight pressure of her tongue against his mouth and he happily relaxed his jaw to give her access, the kiss deepening as their tongues danced and explored. 

This just as suddenly she pulled away with a horrified squeak. 

“I can’t do this!” she wailed. “What was I even thinking?” 

“I really don’t mind,” Adrien said before he could stop himself. 

“You should mind!” she cried, pulling away from him and crossing her arms around her stomach as if to restrain herself, “I am a stranger to you! I pretty much literally plucked you up off the street and carried you away for my own selfish benefit! Maybe I am a hero but I am also just some girl behind a mask who dragged you into her problems.” 

Once again Adrien had to hold back the instinct to yell out that she was no stranger to him. She was his partner, his best friends. So what if he didn’t know her name, he knew her. He knew her better than he knew himself. But this wasn’t about him. This wasn’t the time for grand reveals or confessions of undying love. So he bit his lip and held his silence, though he couldn’t resist the need to catch her hand in his own, lacing their fingers together in a sign of support. 

“We can’t be together like this,” she said, even though her voice sounded more disappointed than certain. 

Somehow he knew that his whole world was riding on this answer.    
It was the same feeling that had told him to shut the closet door all those months ago. 

He just prayed that he was wasn’t about to completely screw this up. 

“You’re probably right,” he said, and his heart lurched when he saw her shoulders drop slightly at his words. He pressed on anyways. “Being a superhero is… complicated. As cool as it would be to brag to my friends about my secret girlfriend Ladybug, it wouldn’t be fair to either of us.  But you know what is just as amazing to think about?” 

“What?” 

“Sometimes when I am bored, which actually is quite a lot of the time, seeing as photoshoots aren’t really all that mentally challenging, I like to imagine that I am out walking around the city. And while I am out I happen to run into a girl.” 

“Any particular girl?” she says, with a faint trace of disappointment that confirms his suspicion that he has met her before. He can beat himself up over that later. 

“No, not really,” he says instead. He holds back a smile when he sees her start in surprise. “But she’ll be cute and she’ll be kind, and she won’t mind that I am socially inept and kind of a nerd when it comes right down to it. And she’ll roll her eyes at my stupid jokes and tell me all about her hopes and dreams, because of course she isn’t just some empty headed celebutante.” 

He heard Ladybug let out a soft snort. 

“Anyways, we’ll talk for hours, and I’ll see that she is brave, and loyal, and probably a little bit crazy.” 

“Hey!” 

“Well all girls are kinda crazy.”

“Again, Hey!” 

“Don’t worry, none of you have anything on my friend Alya. Anyways, I’ll be talking to this girl- just a normal, everyday girl, and she’ll ask me- ‘Hey, do you want to go get some Chinese?’” 

“Chinese?” 

“I like Chinese food. Been craving it for weeks, but Father doesn’t care for it.” 

“Your romantic daydream is for someone to take you out for Chinese?” 

For the first time since he had started talking, Adrien turned and looked at Ladybug. He reached out and caught her hand in his own and he heard her catch her breath. 

“As amazing as you are, as many times as you have saved this city with your incredible powers, and as ridiculously attractive as you manage to make polka dotted spandex look, when I say I would date you, it’s not because I am looking to date a superhero. I just want someone who is smart, and kind, and funny, who wants to go with me to get some Chinese food. Because they would remind me of you, and that’s the highest recommendation I could think of.” 

“How do you know I like Chinese food?” she asked, her eyes shining. 

Adrien let out a breath that he didn’t even realize he had been holding. He hadn’t screwed everything up.

“Well if you don’t, then I am afraid our romance was already doomed anyways,” he smiled. 

 

___

 

“You are a world class sap, do you know that?” Plagg grumbled 20 minutes later as they walked out of his favorite cheese shop. “It would have taken next to no effort to talk the girl into some sort of secret rendezvous and then I could have been spared your endless sighing.” 

“You know Plagg, if I didn’t know better, I would say that you were proud of me,” Adrien said, still floating on cloud nine from the brilliant smile and breathy ‘see you around, Adrien’ that Ladybug had given him after swinging them both down off the roof of Notre Dame. She had offered to take him back home, but he figured it would be a little difficult to explain why he was trying to sneak back in through the window. 

Plagg simply huffed, curling up in Adrien’s jacket pocket and munching on his newly acquired treat.  

Adrien glanced at the sky, almost dark now in the last fading stretch of twilight, but he was loathed to make the journey back to his empty home. Father and Nathalie wouldn’t be back from the office until close to midnight, so he had plenty of time before anyone would think to notice his absence. He had enough practice avoiding the security cameras, after all. 

He pulled out his phone, hoping maybe Nino would be free for a few hours of video games, when he saw a disheveled whirlwind of pink tearing determinedly down sidewalk in the opposite direction. 

“Marinette?” he called out, stifling a laugh as she skidded to a stop, pirouetting like a ballet dancer to face him, her eyes wide in surprise.  

“Adrien? I thought you were going… I mean, um… Hi,” she blushed and waved before thrusting her hand behind her back, as if mortified by the gesture. 

“Hi,” he smiled, trying not to laugh at her endearing awkwardness. It really was ridiculously cute. “How’ve you been? I haven’t seen you since…” 

“Good, I’ve been good.”

“That’s good.” 

“I miss you. I mean, we miss you, the class. It’s been different with you gone. Nino especially obviously, but we all do. And me,” she added, looking him in the eye even as her cheeks flamed, “I miss you.” 

“I miss you, too,” Adrien said, ignoring the slight wetness he could feel teasing at the corner of his eyes. 

Marinette smiled, her hands clenched behind her back, and for a few moments they just started at each other, enjoying the company but neither knowing exactly what to say. 

“Well,” Adrien said, when the silence had stretched from comfortable to slightly awkward, “I was about to send a text to-”

“Adrien,” Marinette interrupted, startling him into silence again, “I know we don’t know each other all that well but I was wondering… that is… I would love to get to know you more, so if you are up for it, do you want to maybe...” she bit her lip nervously and Adrien could feel his skin tingle in anticipation of... something. “Do you want to go to dinner with me?” she asked with a hesitant smile. 

“You want to go to dinner? With me?” Adrien asked, his mind screaming that he was missing something important. The fact that he could feel Plagg shaking in his pocket wasn’t helping his sense of foreboding.

She nodded. 

“Yeah, sure, I’d love to” he agreed, his own cheeks flushing slightly at the starry eyed smile she gave at his answer. “Where would you like to go?” 

Marinette slipped her arm through his and they began walking, her head turning slightly to look out at the city. 

“You know,” she said, “I think I’m in the mood for Chinese.” 

Adrien tripped. 


	29. Chloe/Sabrina- you're always number one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warning- contains some spoilers

“Don’t worry Bee, you’ll get the hang of it,” Chat Noir said kindly patting her on the shoulder in a comforting, familiar sort of way, “we all had a bit of a learning curve.” 

She didn’t trust herself to speak, simply nodding in acknowledgement. 

“Really,” he continued gently, “You did great for your first time out.” 

“Ladybug didn’t think so,” Bee blurted out miserably. 

“Sure she did, she just…” she saw him bite his lip as he pondered his words, “Ladybug has a lot of responsibilities as the leader of our little team, and she can have a bit of a temper sometimes when she is worried about protecting people. She just didn’t want you to get hurt, it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t think you did a good job.” 

“She told me that I almost got myself killed, and that she can’t do her job if she has to worry about what sort of idiotic thing I am going to do next.” 

“Chin up Bee,” Chat said, “she tells me that like once a week, and I am still here aren’t I?” He flashed her a lopsided grin, tapping her on the end of her nose, and in spite of herself Bee felt her lips twist into a soft smile. “That’s better,” Chat grinned. “Trust me, you are gonna be fine, okay?” 

She nodded, a little more confidently this time, and Chat held up a hand for a high five. She raised her own hand and rolled her eyes and Chat pretended to be stung as their palms hit. He gave her a final jaunty smile and a salute as his ring let out a final warning beep, leaping away with his baton to find a safe place to drop his transformation. 

Bee waited a few minutes in the secluded corner of the park before doing a final look around and dropping her own disguise. It was only a short walk back to the hotel, so there was no reason to stay powered up any longer. 

“Chat Noir is right you know,” her Kwami said, settling on her shoulder, “while we still have a lot of work to do, you did very well for your first time out. Remember a hive isn’t built in a day.” 

“I know,” Chloe sighed, “but is it so much to ask to want to make a good first impression?” 

“I don’t know what you mean, I think your outfit was completely stunning.” 

“Well there is that,” Chloe admitted with a begrudging smile. 

Her kwami gave her cheek a quick squeeze before disappearing into her clutch. 

“Chloe!” 

She turned to see Sabrina running towards her clearly out of breath. 

“Oh, Chloe, thank goodness! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! I was so scared that something happened to you! It was complete chaos, everything was a mess, but of course Ladybug fixed everything as usual. Did you see the fight?”

“Yes I saw.” 

“I am just glad you were somewhere safe, it was a pretty nasty one. Definitely in the top ten akuma battles we have seen so far, don’t you think?” 

“Sure,” Chloe said non committally, realizing for the first time just how awkward having conversations about fights that she was in was going to be. She turned away from her friend and began walking through the park towards home.

“And there was that new hero! That was so exciting! I mean…” Sabrina slouched nervously as she trotted along behind, “she’s no Ladybug of course, but who is, obviously no one can compete with Ladybug, right Chloe?” 

Chloe was glad that Sabrina couldn’t see her wince. She knew that the girl was trying to please her. After all, it wasn’t like she herself hadn’t spent hours verbally belittling Chat Noir. Not to mention how much harsher she had been on Vixen when she first showed up on the scene. Still it hurt all the same. 

“No,” she admitted sullenly, “no one will ever be as good as Ladybug.” Or be good enough for Ladybug. 

“Well, I mean you could.” 

“What?” Chloe started, stopping in her tracks and staring wide eyed at her friend.

“You could be as good as Ladybug. If you were a superhero I mean.” 

“Why would you think that?” 

“Because you’re always number one Chloe,” Sabrina said loyally. “If you were a superhero, I am positive that you would be the best in no time at all. Even better than Ladybug.” 

“I don’t know…” 

“Of course you would, because you never give up. You will always find a way to succeed! Whether it be getting the last pair of limited edition Jimmy Choos or getting the upper hand against Marinette the pest, you will never stop until you have show the world that Chloe Bourgeois is a force to be reckoned with!”

Sabrina held out her hand for a fist bump, the way they had hundreds of times while playing Ladybug and Chat Noir, her eyes shining with pride and belief, and for the first time that day Chloe found herself believing that maybe, just maybe she could do this. 

In spite of everything she had people who still believed in her. Sabrina would always stand by her. Her father, for all his faults would always support her. Adrien would keep doing his best to help her. Even Chat Noir seemed like an unexpected ally. 

Yes it would be a lot of work, but she had come this far. She had earned her miraculous. Now she just needed to prove to everyone that she could do this. 

Chloe reached over and hugged her friend, Sabrina letting out a startled little gasp the way she always did when she was shown a rare moment of actual affection. Another thing Chloe needed to fix. 

“Thank you,” Chloe said, “you really are my best friend.” 

She felt Sabrina hesitantly tighten the embrace, hugging her back, and for once Chloe didn’t pull away. 

“You’re mine too, Chloe,” Sabrina replied. 

“So,” Chloe said pulling away after she had reached her limit on emotionally vulnerable displays of affection, “did you actually like the new hero?” 

“Queen Bee? Of course! She is so pretty! I mean obviously she doesn’t have Ladybugs experience but the way she just leapt into battle? It’s exciting to see another fighter aside from poor Chat Noir. And maybe he won’t get beat up as much now that the team is more balanced.” 

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” Chloe said surprised. 

Sabrina nodded happily as the two began walking back towards the hotel. Chloe pondered her friends words. Maybe she was suited to this team- bringing a sense of balance. Perhaps she was meant to be more of a Chat than a Ladybug. But that was ok. After all, Ladybug clearly loved her original partner, and found him to be a valuable asset. She could be that too. Sabrina was awfully smart about this sort of stuff. Heaven only knew Chloe’s stellar grades had nothing to do with her own efforts. 

“I think you’re right Sabrina,” she said, watching as her friend glowed at the praise. “I think that we have a lot more to see from Queen Bee.” 

“I hope so!” Sabrina said.

“You know…” Chloe began hesitantly, “if you like, I am sure I could order a Queen Bee costume for our collection.” 

“Oh Chloe, could you?” Sabrina gasped, “it would be so nice to get to play as a girl sometimes, and you always said that I could pull of yellow if I tried, even though it’s totally your color and I would never want to try to compete with you of course! I just hope my hair is long enough to pull it back into a ponytail like she does! Although…” her face scrunched in worry, “if I start playing as Bee who is going to be Chat Noir?” 

“Eh,” Chloe shrugged, her face flushed slightly with pleasure at her friends excitement, “maybe I can talk Adrien into doing it.” 


	30. Sabine vs Gabe- Can you shut up?

Sabine Cheng liked to consider herself a fairly reasonable woman. She was generally slow to anger, eager to think well of people, but ready to acknowledge that the world was not without flaws. She prefered to act based on facts and logic instead of jumping into situations blindly. She even came into today’s parent teacher conference about the repeated attendance problems amongst several of the students ready to keep an open mind, ready to listen to both the schools and Marinette’s point of view as to what exactly was going on lately, that she and three of her other classmates were so frequently not where they were supposed to be. 

Of course none of these things had prepared her for suffering through the presence of Gabriel Agreste. 

She wasn’t sure what it was exactly that had pushed her over the edge. Perhaps it was the complete disdain he made no attempt to hide when he arrived at the meeting 5 minutes later than it was scheduled? (Although to his credit he was at least still 10 minutes earlier than their ‘esteemed’ mayor.) Or maybe his snide comments that all this meeting proved was that the school was clearly incompetent that they couldn’t appreciate or even keep track of Adrien’s ‘higher priority’ schedule of activities and that it was a mistake to allow Adrien to even attend? (She hoped for the boy’s sake that the threats to pull Adrien out of school if his haughtiness Gabriel Agreste was ever pulled away from his precious work again where just threats. She couldn’t imagine having to be cooped up in a house all day with that man.) It might have been the part where he simply stood up in the middle of Mssr. Damocles explanation as to how there were going to proceed with nothing more than a cursory ‘I need to take this’ before walking out of the room, cell phone in hand, without a backwards glance. 

Most likely it was the moment when he came back 20 minutes later, as she, Mssr and Madame Cesaire, and Mayor Bourgeois, stared at the giant hole in the wall through which the Principal and the Akuma that used to be her husband had disappeared through, with a drawling ‘Did I miss anything important?’ 

Now, she wondered just which deity she must have offended that she found herself trapped in an empty classroom, about to be set upon by brainwashed minions, with quite possibly the most disagreeable man in Paris. 

“Madame, are you sure this is really necessary?” he drawled as he typed nonchalantly on his phone as if they were still just sitting through a parent teacher conference. 

“My Husband has been turned into an akuma,” she seethed as she continued to drag any loose furniture forward to help barricade the door, “running around causing God knows what havoc under the influence of some overpowered madman. So no I really couldn’t care less if one of your precious designer coats gets temporarily wrinkled, now help me move this desk!” 

Gabriel looked somewhat startled but gave a small nod and discarded his jacket before coming over to help move the heavy piece of furniture. 

Just in time as well, because barely had they braced it against the door when Sabine began hearing the thump of fists against the door. 

“We need to get out of here,” she muttered, checking to see if the windows could be opened. They could, unfortunately it was a full two story drop to the courtyard below. 

“I suppose, though it really doesn’t actually matter,” Gabriel said, still with the same infuriating calm, “the miraculous cure will restore everything back to the way it was.” 

“Oh and that makes it better?” 

“I believe that is in fact the literal definition of ‘making it better’.”

Sabine glared at him. “And what about the emotional damage? What about the guilt and humiliation felt by the people who have been victimized by that lunatic. Does the miraculous cure fix that?” 

“I have no idea. However given that, to my understanding, all of the victims were already in a state of emotional distress in order to be compromised in the first place, and sense of guilt would seem to be between them and their own conscience.” 

Sabine choked on her own outrage, letting out a strange sputtering cough. “You.. you can’t be serious…”

“I’m simply pointing out that if people didn’t get so emotional about every little thing-” 

“Little thing!?” 

“- then Hawkmoth wouldn’t have such an easy time of things now would he?” 

Sabine was fairly sure that she let out an honest to god growl. “You know it’s people like you that lead to us having Hawkmoths in the first place.” 

He leveled her with a flat stare. “I couldn’t possibly know what you mean by that madame.” 

“You know, you probably wouldn’t,” she muttered under her breath. “Can you at least pretend to sympathize that there are innocent people out there who could be in danger right now? What about the children, OUR children? Doesn’t it bother you that Adrien could be somewhere out there right now, possibly in the middle of a battle, and you wouldn’t even know.” 

“Believe me, I know  _ exactly _ where my son is right now,” he said in a bored, almost sarcastic tone.

Sabine wondered if she could get away with kidnapping Adrien Agreste and hiding him in the bakery until he turned 18. It would certainly make Marinette happy. 

“In any case,” Gabriel continued, “regardless of where our children may or may not hypothetically be I don’t see what exactly you expect us to do about it. So unless you have some sort of brilliant plan to subdue your magically enhanced behemoth of a husband, which I seriously doubt, I would suggest you just-” 

“Can you shut up!?” Sabine yelled whirling on Gabriel with a glare. His eyes widened and for once he fell silent. “Now, maybe you are content to sit here and do nothing but I am not. And since you are the only other person around right now you are going to help me, whether you  _ like it _ or not.  _ Do I make myself perfectly clear _ ? Now- you are supposed to be the big shot fashion designer, fashion up some sort of rope so we can climb out that window and do everything we can to help stop this mess or I will throttle you with that ridiculous candy cane you have around your neck!” 

They glared at each other for a few tense seconds before Gabriel finally relaxed.    
“Fine.” 

He began rummaging around the room in search of some sort of acceptable materials, muttering something under his breath about unnecessary heroics. 

Sabine let out a sigh and got to work opening the windows. 

She heard him clear his throat. 

“What?” Sabine snapped.

“You’re daughter, the one with the pigtails...” 

“Yes?” 

“She wouldn’t happen to take after you by chance, does she?”

“Why do you ask?” 

“... no reason.” 


End file.
